Hidden Light
by Starsister12
Summary: After the destruction of OMEGA, Vincent and his friends find a strange young woman in an abandoned lab. Is her childlike behavior genuine, or is it merely an act to disguise a weapon more deadly than OMEGA? Takes place 3 weeks after Dirge of Cerberus.
1. Moonlit Discovery

Chapter 1:

_**Moonlit Discovery**_

"Vincent. We found something. I think you'll want to take a look at this."

Absently flipping the cell phone closed, Vincent stood, staring off into the darkness. "_We found something_." What could that mean? Remnants of Jenova? Some other piece of Hojo's insane experiments that had nearly destroyed the world twice? Either way, he knew Cloud wouldn't have called without a good reason. Wrapping his tattered red cloak around his thin frame, Vincent Valentine set off into the mist-enshrouded night.

They rendezvous at one of the numerous partially-destroyed laboratories that riddled Midgar. Cloud Strife and Tifa Lockhart were waiting outside.

"So, what's this all about?" Vincent asked. "It's not like you to be so mysterious, Cloud."

"We found something, like I said," answered Cloud. "Or rathersomeone."

Vincent frowned. "What do you mean?"

"There might be someone else infused with the Chaos entity," said Tifa softly. "But we aren't a hundred percent sure."

For a moment, no one spoke. "Where?" came the soft question. Cloud and Tifa silently turned and headed into the ruins, Vincent a red-and-black shadow behind them.

It was hard going. Much of the building had been blasted or collapsed, and there were no longer any stairs. Cloud led the little group to the edge of a rift torn in the floor and began sliding down the rope anchored to one of the still-standing pylons. Tifa, her eyes worried, and Vincent, mouth set in a grim line, followed him.

Red XIII was waiting for them outside a ragged gap torn in the wall. He nodded in greeting. "Everything's quiet, no traps or alarms so far," the great red cat said.

Cloud nodded back at Red XIII, glanced at Tifa and Vincent, and entered the room.

It was roughly circular with numerous computer panels winking, whirring, and humming. In fact, the walls were covered with lights, buttons, charts, and monitors with data streaming across them at lightning speed. Vincent noted absently that there was surprisingly little damage, despite the ruined and battered state of the building outside. However, it was the centerpiece of the room, the reason Cloud and Tifa had called him, which caught his attention.

In the center of the chamber was a tall, glass tube filled with some kind of clear liquid which glowed faintly. Narrow metal panels with flashing lights, monitors, buttons, and numerous wires running in and out flanked the glass tube like a pair of grim sentinels...or vice clamps. Floating in the tube was a young woman, eyes closed as if she was asleep. Her ghostly pale arms and legs were limp, head thrown back to expose a slender white throat while a barely modest wrap of what looked like bandages covered her chest and hips. A small transparent mask attached to a tube covered her nose and mouth to provide oxygen. Wires ran from her arms and temples into the machines surrounding her. However, the most striking aspect about her was her hair. The left side was white as snow, short, and messy, but the right side was black as ink, long, and smoothly straightened. A red mark, similar to Reno's tattoos, slashed down her left cheek, just under her eye.

For a moment, Vincent simply stood there, then slowly circled the glass cylinder, glancing at the computers and monitor screens as he passed. Tifa looked concerned, her dark eyes following Vincent while Cloud simply waited, knowing that when he was ready, his somber friend would speak.

Vincent paused and glanced over at Cloud. "This is the 'something' you mentioned, I presume. How did you find her? And what is she?"

"Cloud, Red XIII and I were looking through the ruins, searching for any survivors or remnants of OMEGA," Tifa said. Vincent suppressed a shiver at the mention of the super-weapon, the "harvester of souls" that had nearly destroyed their world only a few short weeks ago.

"When we came near this building," she continued, "Red XIII got nervous, because he could smell something strange. Naturally, we came down to investigate and found her." She nodded towards the floating woman.

"There wasn't anything left that could tell us what she's doing here, why she was left here, or even how long she's been here," said Cloud, picking up the thread of the story. "Anything useful is busted beyond repair."

"What about these?" Vincent asked, gesturing to the computers lining the walls.

Cloud shook his head. "We tried them. They're full of data, plenty of statistics and records of things outside this lab, but no records about iher/i."

"It's like she's being fed information, but not sending any back out," said Tifa quietly.

"Hmmm..." Vincent's eyes ran over the data banks thoughtfully. Tifa was right; the data stream was one-way, and no feedback aside from a simple life-sign monitor, which wasn't much help. "So," he said, "what makes you think she's been infused with the Chaos entity?"

"This," said Cloud, walking over to the life-sign monitor and tapping a few keys. "How old would you say she is? Twenty-two? Twenty-three?"

Vincent nodded slightly, a slight frown on his face. "About that. Why?"

"But if you look at this tissue reading, she's chronologically about sixty-seven years old." Cloud's blue-green eyes met Vincent's red ones as a look of understanding flashed in them.

"You believe that, in order for her to be frozen at one age like this, she went through the same experimentation I did," said Vincent quietly.

"That's the theory," said Tifa, "but without more substantial data, we don't know for sure. She might not be a host for Chaos, but even so, we have no idea what kind of changes have been made to her body."

"She could have been down her for years before that, slowly aging," Cloud added. "Or she might have been constructed here, who knows? There aren't any other records."

Red XIII's fur bristled. "All I know is that something doesn't smell right down here," he growled. "It reeks of old blood and experiments."

Suddenly, a silver glow lit the room from above. They all jerked, startled at the sudden illumination.

"Where on earth...?" Cloud started to say.

"It's the moon," Vincent replied, looked upwards. "The moonlight is shining down a shaft into the cylinder."

Tifa gasped. "Look!" she whispered, pointing at the cylinder. Vincent and Cloud turned their attention to it as Red XIII blinked in surprise.

The woman in the tube was moving. Very slowly, she flexed her slender fingers, and lowered her head. As she raised her head once more, opening her eyes to look up at the moonlight, Tifa stifled another gasp. The woman's eyes were different colors. The right eye on the side with black hair was the blue-green color that anyone obtained when exposed to mako for long periods of time, like Cloud. But her left eye on the white-haired side was the same ruby-red shade of Vincent's eyes.

She blinked in the silver light, apparently oblivious to their presence, and then slowly raised one arm, reaching up towards the moon. Her fingers made small stirring motions, dipping like birds in slow motion, and a small smile of blissful contentment tugged the corners of her mouth. Then her gaze fell on the four friends and her strange eyes went wide as she lowered her hand in surprise. There was no fear in her stare, only curiosity.

"You brought back moon?" the woman asked. Her voice was high, closer to a child's pitch than that of a mature woman, and her sentence was structured like a child's. Despite being muffled by the glass and liquid surrounding her, there was also a strange lilt to her words, creating an unusual accent.

"Excuse me?" said Cloud, a bit surprised himself.

"What do you mean?" asked Tifa.

The woman blinked. "Moon not come for long time," she said. "Big dark came, make all dark, very dark. Wait and wait, but no moon. Now moon back and you come. You bring back moon?"

"Must have been all the dust and clouds kicked up from when you fought OMEGA, Vincent," said Cloud softly. "That probably blocked out the sky for a while out here."

"Big dark gone, good to have moon back," said the woman, smiling.

"What is your name?" Tifa asked.

"Name?"

"Yes, your name. I'm Tifa. This is Cloud, Red XIII, and Vincent. What's your name?"

For a moment, the woman seemed to be thinking, eyes lowered. When she raised them again, the smile was back on her face. "Hikari. My name Hikari." She looked at the others, and reached out a hand to touch the inner wall of her glass home. "Tifa," Hikari said, looking at Tifa. "Cloud. Red XIII. Vincent!" She smiled, looking proud that she'd been able to name them all correctly.

"That's right, Hikari!" said Tifa, smiling in encouragement. "Now, Hikari, can you tell us how long you've been here?"

Hikari blinked. "Always," she said simply.

"Was there anyone else here with you?"

This time confusion clouded Hikari's face. "Else?"

"Yes," Tifa prompted, "were there others with you?"

"Some come, some go, I not always see," said Hikari with a shrug. "Do things I not know, look at funny metal things there, make noises and words I not know, then go away again. Sometimes come back, sometimes don't." She paused. "No one come back long time now, not even Miss Lucy."

"Who's Lucy?" asked Cloud.

Hikari's eyes lit up. "Miss Lucy good! She come and talk, but not talk things I don't know. Sometimes not talk, just look and those times, she made water in the eyes. But she not come in long time."

"'Water in the eyes'?" Red XIII repeated, looking bewildered.

"I think she means that this Lucy came and cried," said Cloud.

"'Cried'?" Hikari repeated. "What is 'cried'?"

"Whatever they did to her, it appears to have affected her mental operations," said Vincent quietly. "They may have damaged her mind irrevocably with their experimental tampering."

"But we still have no idea what kind of experiment it was," Cloud replied.

Hikari pressed her palms against the glass, her eyes flashing from one person to the next, trying to follow their conversation.

"We can't just leave her though," said Tifa.

"Leave?" asked Hikari, eyes wide. "You...you leave?" Her words trembled slightly at the end.

"Don't be afraid," said Cloud. "You can come with us, as soon as we figure out how to open that tank."

Hikari's eyes lit up with childlike joy and she nodded excitedly.

"Cloud," said Vincent quietly, "are you sure that's a good idea?"

"What do you mean?" asked Cloud, frowning slightly. "We can't leave her, who knows how long this place is going to hold up?"

"I know, but if she is a host for Chaos then she will be extremely dangerous without Protomateria to contain it. Believe me, Cloud, if Chaos breaks free, we four will not be able to control her."

"That's just a risk we'll have to take," Cloud answered, eyes filled with determination. Tifa smiled, nodding in agreement. Vincent frowned, sinking back into the shadows. He didn't like it, but was reluctant openly oppose Cloud.

"Hikari," said Cloud, turning towards her, "were you ever let out of that cylinder?"

She shook her head. "No, always in. No little blink-blink to hit for opening."

Cloud sighed. "Of course, it never can be simple."

"Maybe it can be," said Vincent. He drew out his triple-muzzled handgun, Cerberus, and aimed at the glass tube. _Perhaps she can't survive outside the tank_, he thought. _That would solve things neatly. _ "Crouch down as low as you can," he ordered Hikari. She hunched low, curling up as tight as she could and tucked her head under her arms.

BAM! BAM! BAM! Three shots, fired in quick succession shattered the side of the glass cylinder, and the clear liquid began gushing out.

"Well, that was easy," said Tifa.

"Too easy," Vincent replied. _Why was it so easy to break through?_ he wondered. _With such a potentially dangerous experiment, why wasn't the glass stronger? Where are the security measures? Unless the upper building's destruction short-circuited them..._

Almost on cue, the alarms began to wail like demented souls.

"Now what?" Tifa asked, looking around sharply.

Before Vincent could answer her, there was a sharp sizzling sound and Hikari screamed.

Volts of electricity were pouring into her through the wires attached to her arms and temples, leaving her writhing and screaming in agony in her slowly draining tank. In a single swift motion, Vincent leapt for the wires and yanked them from the wall with his gloved hand. Hikari slumped in the remaining liquid at the bottom of the tank. Cloud smashed more of the glass, widening the hole Vincent had made with the Cerberus until he and Tifa could lift Hikari out. She was trembling with pain and residue shocks from the electricity that had coursed through her body, the pupils in her eyes dilated to their fullest extent.

Tifa gently touched her pale shoulder. "Hikari? Can you hear me? Are you ok?"

Hikari took a few shallow breaths and nodded. "Ouch," she said.

"A few hundred volts of lightning and all she says is 'ouch,'" said Red XIII, shaking his head.

Hikari looked at him. "What, did I use wrong word?"

Cloud and Tifa burst out laughing. Tifa patted Hikari's arm, smiling. "No, Hikari, that was the right word," she said with a smile.

"Can you stand?" Vincent asked, glancing around swiftly. The alarms had stopped blaring, but he didn't want to wait around for any more security surprises. he glanced at Hikari, hiding his surprise and unease that she had survived leaving the tank and the electricity.

"Yes, I walk," she answered, slowly getting to her feet. Cloud and Tifa steadied Hikari as she wobbled for a moment, then balanced. However, she moved in an odd manner, on tip-toes like a dancer, as if she wasn't quite fully anchored to the ground.

Vincent nodded. "We should get moving then."

Hikari reached out and touched his sleeve as he passed. Vincent stopped and looked at her.

She stared right back and said, "You save me from bright-pain-death. I thank you...Vincent."

He inclined his head in silent acknowledgment, and led the little group back towards the surface.

Moments later the chamber was empty, save for the slowly whirring computers, a shattered glass cylinder, the slight drip-drip of clear liquid, and a stream of moonlight.


	2. The First Lesson

Chapter 2

_**The First Lesson**_

Vincent breathed out a slow sigh of relief when they finally left the ominous shadow of the ruined lab and looked back at his companions. Hikari, wrapped in Tifa's jacket, was picking her way unsteadily across the debris, with Tifa and Cloud trying to spare her bare feet as much as possible. Red XIII was keeping an eye on all three of them.

Climbing out had been especially interesting with pieces of concrete and metal falling around them as the building became more unstable, and there had been a tense moment when Hikari had slipped. She had clung to the rope, eyes wide and frightened, feet scrambling for purchase before Cloud steadied her. Despite her initial confusion at seeing the rope, Tifa had explained it well enough for Hikari to grasp the concept. Even though her mental facilities were like a child's, Vincent had to acknowledge that the young woman still learned very quickly and without any sort of complaint.

Hikari stopped and stared, mismatched eyes round as she beheld the shattered remnants of Midgar. Cloud tugged on her arm, but she pulled away, taking a few steps past him to continue staring. Finally, Hikari turned, looking back at them, and asked, "What…what all _that_?"

"That is all that remains of Midgar," said Tifa softly.

"Midgar? What is a Midgar?"

"It's only a name," Vincent said. "A dead name for a dead city. Few people live here now; most have gone to live in Edge or Kalm."

Hikari looked bewildered. "City? Dead? Edge? Kalm?"

"We'll explain it later," said Cloud quickly. "Right now we need to get back to the bike. I don't want to camp close to all this wreckage."

"But, what make this?" Hikari persisted, sweeping her arm to encompass the view. "What make so much…so much…" She paused, clearly frustrated with her inability to make herself understood.

"Do you want to know what made Midgar?" Vincent asked quietly. "Or what destroyed it?"

Hikari's mismatched eyes fixed on him. "Both," she said solemnly.

"The people of this world made Midgar," he said, "a city of life and hope. But the greed of a few and the misguided hatred of one nearly destroyed it completely. And only three weeks ago, another calamity arose to bring down even those remnants." Vincent bowed his head. "That was just the short version of the story. We do not have time for details."

Hikari nodded slowly, looking out at Midgar again. "All broken now? Can be fixed?"

"Maybe one day it will be fixed," said Tifa. "But right now, people are too tired and frightened. We're still recovering, but one day…who knows?"

The wind stirred Hikari's strange black and white hair as she frowned. "Not sure understand all you say, Tifa," she said slowly, "but I keep your words inside." Hikari tapped the side of her head, and then placed her hand over her heart, almost as if she was making a kind of vow.

"Let's go," said Cloud softly. This time, Hikari did not pull away, but she kept looking over her shoulder at the ruins, eyes full of questions, but lips held tightly shut.

~ * ~

It wasn't too far to the place where Cloud had left his bike. The lab had been on the outskirts of Midgar, so the camp was pretty much rubble-free. A few stunted and blasted trees made a ragged circle around the camp and patches of dying grass were clumped in places. A fire pit had already been dug, and Cloud tossed in a few branches and lit them, his bike gleamed in the moonlight and reflecting the fire. Hikari looked around the camp, drawn towards the fire in obvious fascination, but when she reached out a hand to touch the flames, Tifa quickly pulled the strange woman's hand back.

"No, Hikari," Tifa said gently. "You must not touch the fire."

Hikari's eyes darted from the flickering flames to Tifa. "That is fire?"

Tifa nodded.

"And it will burn you if you touch it," said Vincent, surveying the camp's perimeter for any possible threats, though any sort of attack was unlikely in this dying place.

"Burn?"

Vincent held back a sharp retort. "Remember the electricity when we let you out of your tank? The bright-pain-death?"

Hikari flinched and nodded.

"Well, that is what being burned feels like. Fire does the same thing; it's just a different color. Don't touch it." Vincent started to turn away, but then looked back over his shoulder at Hikari. "In fact, don't touch anything unless Tifa says you can."

The young woman nodded in silent obedience as Vincent walked over to Cloud who was getting some provisions out of his bike.

"Go easy on her, Vincent," said Cloud softly. "Remember, she's never been outside before, hasn't even seen other humans probably for years. It's going to be rough enough on her as it is."

Vincent crossed his arms. "Perhaps, but she's going to have to learn very quickly if she's going to survive in the outside world," the ex-Turk replied. "This world is not kind. Shielding her from reality won't help her."

"At least give her a chance to learn more words before introducing her to the darker side of life," Cloud said, a wry grin on his face. Serious as ever, Vincent only looked at him. Cloud just shook his head and walked over to the two women kneeling by the fire.

"I'm going to head back to Barrett's place and let him know what we've found," said Red XIII. "Maybe we can find some answers back in Edge."

Vincent nodded in acknowledgement. There was always some kind of documents or traces of scientific lab work. The trick was finding it and authenticating it.

"Thanks for all your help, Red XIII," said Tifa with a smile, and Cloud raised a hand in farewell.

Hikari looked startled. "You go, Red XIII?" she asked.

The great red cat padded over to the young woman and placed a paw on her knee. "Yes, I have to go now."

She blinked her mismatched eyes. "You come back, Red XIII?"

"I probably will not come back here," he said, "but you will see me again."

"Why go?"

"Because there are some friends in the city of Edge that I must see," Red XIII replied. "Friends of mine and friends of Tifa, Cloud, and Vincent. They might be able to find more information about you."

Hikari cocked her head to one side. "Is Miss Lucy there?" she asked hopefully.

Red XIII shook his head solemnly. "I don't know, Hikari, but we might be able to find out."

Hikari reached out a gentle hand and touched the red cat's head. "Thank you, Red XIII," she said with a smile, and scratched him lightly behind the ears. Red XIII leaned into the caress and purred, which made Hikari laugh. "You make funny face, Red XIII!" she giggled.

"Be well, Hikari, and listen to these three. They will teach more about our world." With those parting words, the great cat bounded off into the night.

Hikari watched the spot where Red XIII had gone for several moments, as if expecting him to return almost immediately. When he did not reappear, she sighed and turned her attention to Tifa, Cloud, and Vincent. Her mismatched eyes followed their movements as Cloud broke out the rations and Tifa put some water onto boil. Vincent remained on guard, standing still and silent in the shadows just beyond range of the fire's light. Hikari wanted to ask him more about Midgar, but sensed that his patience with her inability to communicate properly was wearing thin. Until she learned to speak better, she would have to talk to Tifa and Cloud.

"Tifa…" Hikari said softly.

The dark-haired girl looked up and smiled. "Yes, Hikari, what is it?"

"You…please, you talk while doing things?" Hikari asked. "Talk what you do, so I can learn?"

Tifa cocked her head to one side. "You want me to explain what I'm doing?"

Hikari nodded. "Yes, that way can put words to things and learn new words. Please?"

Tifa smiled. "Of course, Hikari. We'll start tonight."

~ * ~


	3. Sunrise

Chapter 3

_**Sunrise**_

Cloud munched thoughtfully on his sandwich, watching Hikari and Tifa talk. Tifa was a natural teacher, patient and soft spoken, which was perfect for Hikari. It was rather disorienting seeing a woman nearly Vincent's age being taught by a teenage girl. The pale side of Hikari's hair gleamed in the moonlight as her eyes remained fixed with deep attention on Tifa, now and then nodding in understanding or frowning in confusion. It seemed like Hikari did know a lot of words, but, until this moment, had had nothing to attach to those words. They were simply a jumble of letters and sounds with no meaning, but now, with Tifa's patient coaching, some of those meanings were sorting themselves out.

But they were still no closer to finding out anything about Hikari herself. Questioning her would be like questioning a four-year-old, and Cloud knew that neither he nor Vincent had enough patience to sit through that. Tifa might, but Vincent…never.

Cloud glanced over at the darker red shadow of his somber friend. Vincent had been even more close-mouthed and ominous than he usually was. Had Hikari's discovery unnerved him that much? Was Vincent just being cautious with an unknown or being overly suspicious? Cloud sighed. He would trust Vincent with his life, or Tifa's life, but the man really needed to relax a little bit. Hikari, while strange looking and with mysterious origins, was basically an innocent child. Even if she was a host for Chaos, it was doubtful that the murderous rage so evident in Vincent's Limit Breaks would ever burn in Hikari's blue and red eyes. Of course, that didn't mean they could let their guard down, but they could still show some warmth and kindness towards this fragile, friendless girl.

"I think that's enough for tonight," said Tifa, raising a hand. "Right now we should get some rest so we can head back to Edge tomorrow."

Hikari perked up. "Edge? What Edge? And where?"

"It's a city," Cloud explained, "not too far from here, about a day's ride. That's where most of the people in Midgar went after Metorfall."

"The falling star?"

Vincent's red eyes flashed in the firelight as he turned towards the girl. "You know of it?" he asked.

Hikari met his gaze, head cocked to one side. "Saw flash across sky. Heard things, not-happy things in the air. Felt…" She shivered and broke off. "That falling star bring bad." She looked up at Vincent again. "You fixed it? Make go away?"

"With some help," Vincent said dryly. Cloud smiled and Tifa tried to disguise her laugh as a cough.

"We'll tell you more about Edge and Midgar tomorrow," said Tifa, smoothing out her bedroll. "But now, it is time to sleep."

Hikari nodded. "Yes, sleep-time in dark," she said, then rose to her feet.

Tifa straightened. "Hikari, what are you doing?"

The young woman looked puzzled, a slight frown between her red and blue eyes. "Sleep-time," she said, and walked in that strange tip-toe manner of hers over to a patch of grass. Carefully, she set her heels on the ground and wiggled her toes, digging them into the grass. Then, she tilted her face upward to look up at the night sky, letting out a sigh of contentment and closing her mismatched eyes. She looked as if she were carved from frozen moonlight, not a living being at all.

Concerned, Tifa started to get up, but Vincent motioned her to stay put.

"Let her sleep like this, if that's what she's used to," he said softly. "She'll need something familiar to hold onto after all that's happened today." Seeing Tifa's doubtful expression, he added, "Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on her. I'll catch her if she falls."

Satisfied, Tifa settled back into her blankets and closed her eyes. Cloud sent a questioning look at Vincent, who shook his head. He would stand guard this night. Cloud nodded his acceptance and lay down opposite Tifa on the other side of the fire. Vincent wrapped himself in his cloak and settled himself in the shadows to wait out the night.

~ * ~

However, Tifa's concern was unnecessary. Hikari did not fall over during the night, but remained standing, apparently fast asleep, until the first light of dawn began to creep over the horizon. Vincent had remained watchful all night, the changes in his physiology making it possible for him to go days without rest.

As dawn approached, Hikari shook herself and opened her eyes to look over at the still sleeping Cloud and Tifa. Her gaze rested on them for a moment, then turned to Vincent, whom she greeted with a bright smile. The ex-Turk inclined his head slightly in acknowledgement. Hikari's smile widened further, and she looked around the camp curiously.

"Light?" she asked, pointing towards the east.

"Yes," Vincent answered. "It's nearly dawn."

Hikari cocked her head to one side. "Dawn?"

"Sunrise. The beginning of a new day."

Her eyes widened. "I've never seen a sunrise," she said, voice soft with amazement.

For a moment Hikari remained still, looking towards the growing light, but then something seemed to seize hold of her and she darted towards the small rise backing the east side of the camp, clambering up the hill. Vincent, startled by her sudden explosion into movement, found himself following her with equal agility, since he had promised to guard her, therefore her safety was his responsibility. Hikari disappeared over the rise, and when he'd reached the top, she had already climbed up a tall piece of rubble and pipe, crouched there like some strange black-and-white bird on a perch. Vincent came to stand beside the base of the pipe and looked up at the young woman.

The morning breeze made her long, black hair stream back behind her and the shorter white strands whip about her face. But Hikari ignored all distractions, her eyes focused on the horizon as the sun arose in all the glory of dawn. Golden-white light spilled over the horizon line, edging everything in light. The sky brightened with pinks, oranges, yellows, and shades of cream with bright blue peeking between the towering clouds.

It truly was a beautiful sight and Vincent allowed himself a brief moment of indulgence, a moment of calm that was rarely part of a Turk's life…or of an ex-Turk's for that matter. Curious to see her reaction to this natural phenomenon, Vincent glanced up at the strange young woman.

The sunrise was mirrored on Hikari's face. Her mismatched eyes were wide and shining, lips parted slightly as she stared. She looked like she was trying to drink in every sight, every sound, every sensation, of the morning.

"It's…beautiful," Hikari breathed, her eyes glowing in wonder.

Vincent's slight smile at her child-like innocence remained hidden by his red cape. "Yes," he agreed softly. "Yes, it is."

The two of them remained there, motionless in the growing light, until Tifa's worried voice called them back to the camp.

~ * ~


	4. Arrival in Edge

Chapter 4

_**Arrival in Edge**_

"Wheeeeeeeee! Fast! Fun! Fun, fun, funfunfun!"

Cloud grinned and glanced over his shoulder at Tifa, who was sitting behind him, and called over the roar of the bike, "So, do you think she likes riding?"

Tifa grinned back. "What makes you say that?" she replied.

Vincent, who was precariously perched behind Hikari, only grimaced. The bike was _not_ his preferred mode of transportation, but it was the fastest one available. He could move quickly when needed, but Vincent's swiftest pace could not match Cloud's bike, and he was unwilling to let Hikari out of his sight. The girl represented too many unknowns, and no one understood the potential dangers of Chaos better than the ex-Turk.

Hikari seemed blissfully unaware of Vincent's dark thoughts, devoting her complete attention to the new sights, sounds, and sensations that made up riding on Cloud's bike. She had wrapped her arms tightly around Tifa's waist, as instructed, and did not let go, even when all she really wanted to do was to stretch her arms out and try to fly like the birds she had seen through the shaft in the ceiling, soaring above her solitary tank. Her laughter trilled along behind them like a stream of silver bells left in the wake of the bike's dust.

They made better time than Cloud had anticipated, arriving at the outskirts of Edge in the mid-afternoon hours rather than just before dusk like he'd imagined. Vincent recalled his last visit to the city, dark and deserted, the clouds weeping for the mysterious loss of the people of Edge… He forcefully turned his mind away from that particular recollection. It had not been an easy journey.

Hikari let out a cry of amazement and wonder at the slight of the blocky gray buildings looming over the horizon. "That Edge?" she called.

"Yes, that's Edge," Tifa said, smiled over her shoulder at Hikari. "Our home."

"Home," Hikari repeated softly, tasting the word. "I like sound of 'home.' Makes happy-warm feeling inside. Is Red XIII there?"

"Yes, he should be at Barret's place with the rest of our friends," Tifa replied.

"Hang on!" Cloud warned as they started down the bumpy trail leading to the main gate of the city. People had started picking up the pieces of their lives once more, and even a few weeks had made a huge difference. Hikari twisted around so much that Vincent feared she was fall off, so eager was she to catch a glimpse of this new world she had entered. But Cloud had no inclination to linger, not with such a strange passenger. He headed straight to Barret's house, a second story floor across town that boasted a porch and a small, hillside backyard with a few trees and patches of now-green grass. It was surprisingly quiet and private, set back a little from the newer houses. Technically Barret only owned the second floor, but since no one lived in the first, it had been converted to house guests. Right now the whole gang was in town, keeping an eye on things as the city recovered from the effects of the rogue SOLDIER corps Deepground.

Cloud pulled the bike over into the shade of the overhanging porch and shut off the engine. Vincent immediately dismounted, face expressionless, but inwardly grateful to be off the noisy contraption. Cloud helped Tifa and Hikari off as the door of the house flew open.

"Tifa! Cloud!"

"Hey, you're back!"

Tifa laughed and opened her arms, welcoming the two children with an embrace while Cloud looked on, smiling slightly. "I take it you missed us," Tifa said with a smile.

"We're glad you decided to come home," said the brown-haired boy, grinning. Denzel had grown in the year since the fall of Kadaj and his gang. Even though he was only twelve, Denzel had seen a lot more than most kids and had matured fast. Luckily he hadn't lost his innocent smile or all of his childhood yet.

The nine-year-old girl caught a glimpse of Hikari over Tifa's shoulder and stepped back, pointing. "Who is that, Tifa?" she asked, dark brown eyes wide.

Tifa stood and motioned for Hikari to come closer. The young woman had been standing there watching the reunion with a look of interest and confusion on her face. Abruptly, Vincent realized that this must be the first time Hikari had ever seen a child before. No wonder she was unsure!

"Hikari," Tifa said gently, "this is Marlene and this is Denzel. They are also friends. Cloud and I take care of them when Marlene's father Barret isn't home."

"Hello, Marlene," said Hikari shyly. "Hello, Denzel. My name Hikari. This home?"

Marlene peered up at Hikari. "You talk kinda funny, Hikari. And your hair is all mixed up. How come?"

Hikari ducked her head, lowering her eyes. "I not talk so good right now. Live in tank long time, no come out. Vincent, Tifa, Cloud, and Red XIII come get me out. But not know all words yet."

The little girl, apparently making up her mind that Hikari was a friend, stepped forward and took the strange woman's hand. "Don't worry, Hikari. Everyone is really nice here. Denzel and I will teach you. Right, Denzel?"

Grinning, the young boy nodded. "Sure!"

Hikari's mismatched eyes lit up, and she nodded eagerly.

"Come on," Marlene said, tugging on Hikari's hand. "You have to meet everyone!"

The woman took a few steps forward, and then stopped, looking suddenly unsure of herself, turning to look back at Vincent, as if asking permission. He inclined his head slightly. The smile came back to Hikari's face and she followed Marlene into the house. Within a few moments, Tifa, Cloud, and Vincent could hear Hikari's cry of delight and Red XIII's contented purrs.

Tifa smiled. "I think she'll fit in well here."

"She seems quite taken with Marlene and Denzel," Cloud observed. "I think they'll have a better chance of communicating with her than we will; they're closer to her age."

"Don't forget that this isn't some house pet you've adopted," Vincent said in a low voice. "We still have no clue of this woman's origins. Bringing her here may have been a mistake."

Tifa's dark eyes flashed. "Well then, what would you have done with her?" she demanded.

Vincent did not speak, but the look in his crimson eyes said everything.

"We can't just start killing—" Tifa began angrily, but Cloud cut her off.

"I don't think we can be too hasty," he said, "but at the same time we shouldn't lower our guard. But we won't talk about killing anyone until we find out more, ok?" Cloud looked between Tifa, who still looked angry, and Vincent, whose expression, as usual, revealed no emotion. "Are we agreed?"

Tifa shot another glare at Vincent before nodding. Cloud took the ex-Turk's silence for assent. "Alright," said Cloud. "Now, let's go inside, we what the others think."

~ * ~

It appeared that the others agreed with Cloud's assessment.

"Nice kid, a little slow on the uptake, but she'll be fine," said Cid, lighting up another cigarette, which Hikari stared at in confusion.

"She'll do well with the kids," rumbled Barret, a sort of gruff approval in his voice at the sight of Hikari playing a clapping game with Marlene. "As long as we're careful I don't see why she can't stay."

"She scratches me behind the ears," was Red XIII's input.

"We need to get her some proper clothes," Cid's wife Shera commented, a smile on her face.

"I like her!" cried Yuffie, clapping Hikari on the back, much to the older woman's surprise and delight.

Reeve wasn't there, but no one had really expected him to be. As the head of the World Regenesis Organization, he'd been called back to WRO headquarters soon after the defeat of OMEGA. However, Vincent had a feeling that soon he would be calling in some favors from his old friend, favors to open doors to information that could lead to the truth surrounding Hikari's existence.

As for the strange young woman, she seemed both overwhelmed and delighted by all the new people she was meeting. Cid's habit of chain-smoking cigarettes was a source of much amusement and curiosity, especially when she grabbed one out of his mouth an examined it with every evidence of delight…until she tried to imitate him. That led to a coughing fit, followed by numerous exclamations of, "Nasty, nasty!" Yuffie was fascinated by Hikari's eyes and hair, asking her many rapid-fire questions that left the young woman totally bewildered until Barret told the ninja to lay off. The former leader of AVALANCHE, while keeping a level of suspicion and caution in his dark brown eyes, still couldn't help grinning a little at Hikari's child-like charm.

Tifa and Shera seemed to share a motherly, big sister feeling towards Hikari, getting her into some of Tifa's old clothing, and then preparing a meal for the entire group. Even Vincent sat down, although he abstained from the meal, content to lean back in the shadows to watch the antics of this mismatched, yet strangely close-knit band. Hikari simply glowed, eyes darting from one face to the other, smiling and laughing, eager to drink up this new experience. While Denzel felt himself old enough to participate in the discussions of the adults, Marlene had devoted herself to teaching Hikari the names of all the food and objects at the table, which Hikari dutifully repeated, her bright, high voice sometimes breaking through the dinnertime chatter.

Finally, though, Barret decided that it was time for Marlene and Denzel to be in bed, which was the signal for cleanup to commence and beds readied for the night. It was decided that Hikari would room with Tifa for the duration of her stay. Barret offered Vincent a bunk, but the ex-Turk declined with a shake of his head. He wanted to get started calling in those favors Reeve owed him. While the girl seemed harmless, Vincent wasn't willing to let the matter rest until he had solid evidence that Hikari was safe. In his experience, things that came out of test tubes and labs tended to be exceptionally dangerous.

As the others settled down for the night, Vincent quietly slipped out of Barret's house and made his way silently through the night streets. However, he felt eyes on his back as he slipped through the shadows and the ex-Turk glanced back at Barret's house. Even at that distance, Vincent could see the strange young woman's distinctive hair as she watched him leave.

Clad in one of Shera's long white cast-off nightgowns, Hikari looked like a slender ghost in the moonlight shining in through the bedroom window. Tifa was folding back the bed sheets, and glanced up at her new roommate.

"What is it, Hikari?"

"Vincent."

"What?" Tifa came to the window.

"There," said Hikari, pointing.

Tifa peered through the encroaching night but couldn't catch sight of the scarlet-clad man. "I don't see him."

"Vincent left." The young woman's voice was soft and strangely sad.

"I'm sure he'll come back soon," said Tifa reassuringly, patting Hikari's arm, and silently swearing that she'd drag Vincent back by his cape if she had to. "Vincent's always been like that, never sticking around too long. Now come on. It's time to sleep, but in a proper bed this time!"

Hikari hesitated a moment, then turned away from the window and clambered into the bed as Tifa tucked the covers around her. Then Tifa turned off the lamp and climbed into the twin bed next to Hikari's.

"Good night, Hikari."

"Good night, Tifa."

There was a moment of silence as the dark-haired girl started to drift off. Then Hikari's voice came again.

"Tifa?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you…for bringing me here."

Tifa smiled. "You're welcome, Hikari. I'm glad you came."

~ * ~


	5. Settling In

Chapter 5

_**Settling In**_

It was a week before Vincent returned to Edge. He had originally planned to remain at the WRO headquarters with Reeve until some data was turned up, but the ex-Turk was restless, and decided to go back to Barret's house.

"You think Cloud and Barret can't handle this girl who, from what you've told me, has the mental capacity of a small child?" Reeve had asked when Vincent announced his departure.

"We don't know if her child-like appearance is genuine or just a front," Vincent replied. "I'd feel better if I was there keeping an eye on her." He surveyed the head of WRO with a critical eye. "You of all people should remember that even children can be dangerous. Shelke is a ten-year-old girl physically, but she did a lot of damage before leaving Deepground."

Reeve nodded. "I understand. Good luck then, Vincent. But, I really hope that she is what she appears to be."

"Few things are," Vincent answered, and then left.

Seeing the house undamaged, with Barret sitting on the front porch doing some simple maintenance on his mechanical arm, made the ex-Turk relax slightly, but not much.

Barret looked up from his work and waved. "Yo, Vincent! Back already, eh? Find out anything?"

"Not yet," Vincent replied, coming over to the porch and taking Barret's gestured invitation to sit in one of the chairs. "I left before the search started, but Reeve said he'll call the moment he finds anything."

The big man grunted, shifting to pick up another tool. "That so? Got worried about us and decided to come home, eh?"

Vincent said nothing, but Barret chuckled anyway. "Don't worry, we're all fine here. Cid and Shera had to head out, and Red XIII's roaming elsewhere today, but the others are still around. That Yuffie's really taken a liking to the girl; wanted to drag her all over town."

Red eyes wide with alarm, Vincent tensed, ready to leap up and start searching Edge. "What?"

Barret waved his hand dismissively. "Relax, Vincent. Cloud shot that plan down, said you'd have a fit if we let her roam, so we've all been careful to keep her right around the house. Course, as far as Hikari seems to think, _this_ is the whole world. She's real smart and learning fast, but she can't quite get the concept of distances." He glanced up at the ex-Turk. "She's out back with Marlene and the others, if you want to take a look."

Vincent nodded, stood, and walked through the first floor to the back patio which opened into the yard.

There was a small pool of level ground right around the patio, but then the ground sloped up sharply before leveling out again. Here, the grass grew thick and green and farther up the hill a few small trees raised twisted branches towards the sun, mute testament to the tenacity of life. Vincent paused and leaned back against one of the porch posts, arms folded across his chest. Yuffie, Tifa, Marlene, and Denzel were on the hill, playing some sort of game involving tossing a red ball from one person to the next, accompanied by much running around and laughter. With them, racing back and forth and clapping her hands with unbound enthusiasm, was Hikari.

The young woman seemed more alive, less frail than she had a week ago. Her skin was still pale, but her cheeks had filled with the rosy bloom of good health, and her mismatched eyes sparkled with delight. She wore a light lavender shirt that left her shoulders bare and a pair of blue shorts, but her feet were stubbornly bare, dancing lightly over the sun-soaked grass. A small pink ribbon was tied around her throat, a token that all those who were part of this strange little family either wore or carried as a memento of Aerith and a sign of their bond of friendship. Barret, Cloud, Tifa, and Marlene all wore these, and Vincent was sure that Denzel, Yuffie, Cid, and possibly even Reeve carried the same pink ribbons, even if they did not openly wear them. It seemed that, in the few days that Vincent had been away, Hikari had been quietly adopted into the family.

"She's looking a lot happier today," said a quiet voice from the shadows of the porch eaves.

Vincent did not turn as Cloud came up beside him, but glanced questioningly at the former SOLDIER.

Cloud was looking up the hill at the women and children, who were so absorbed in their game that they did not notice the two observers. "Hikari misses you," Cloud said after a moment of silence. "I haven't seen her act this happy since the night we brought her here. We tried everything we could, but she kept asking where you'd gone and when you were coming back. It got worse when Cid and Shera left, but she perked up a little when they said they'd stop by again." Cloud glanced over at Vincent. "I think she's used to people leaving and never coming back, like that Miss Lucy she spoke of."

"Hmm…" was Vincent's only comment. The ex-Turk wasn't sure how to react to Cloud's words. It didn't make sense for Hikari, who barely knew any of them, to be so affected by the quiet disappearance of one of her acquaintances.

Suddenly, Hikari glanced down the hill and saw the two men. She froze, staring, and then a brilliant smile like a miniature sunrise rose on her face.

"Vincent!" she cried, waving an arm in greeting before bounding down the hill in her strange, tip-toe manner towards them. Vincent had barely enough time to uncross his arms before Hikari collided with him, wrapped her arms around him in a surprisingly tight embrace. "You came back!" she laughed, the delight evident in her voice and eyes, as she released Vincent and stepped back, smiling up at him.

Taken aback by this effusive greeting, Vincent could only nod wordlessly, which made Hikari's smile widen. "Good that you come home," the young woman said firmly. She tugged at the ex-Turk's gloved hand. "Come play now?"

"No thanks," Vincent said as gently as he could, but he still saw Hikari's face become shadowed with disappointment. "I'm not much for games," he explained, "and I don't want to spoil your fun."

Hikari met his garnet gaze with her own sapphire and scarlet one. "Will you stay?" she asked. "Not go disappearing? Stay with Cloud, right here?"

Vincent nodded again. "Sure."

The smile returned to the young woman's face and she lightly scampered back up the hill, a new spring in her step, her face content and full of fresh light. A slight smile crossed Cloud's face. "Told you," he said softly, but Vincent did not reply, simply crossing his arms again, watching the women continue the interrupted game. However, he noticed that, every now and then, Hikari would glance back down the hill as if to reassure herself that Vincent was still there.

~ * ~

Before long, Tifa laughingly called a halt due to exhaustion, and she came down to the patio with Yuffie, Hikari, and the children trailing after her. They sat down on the grass while Cloud brought out some cool drinks and Tifa began to give Hikari another language lesson. Vincent, still standing quietly in the shadows, was privately impressed at how much Hikari had learned. While she was still mostly speaking in a childlike manner, she knew many more words and appeared to have grasped many more concepts than she had a week ago. Tifa's patient coaching was paying off, undoubtedly helped by the presence of Marlene and Denzel. As Tifa reviewed a list of simpler words for Hikari, Marlene took a walk over the hill, pulling Yuffie after her.

"Tree. Rock. Grass. Bird. Night. Moon. Cloud," Hikari recited dutifully. She paused and looked at Cloud. "When Marlene says 'cloud,' she points up to fluffies in the sky," she said. "But you also called Cloud. Which is cloud?"

The young man let a smile cross his face. "I guess I was named for the clouds since I've been roaming for much of my life, never staying in one place too long. When you look at me and say 'Cloud' or talk to Tifa about 'finding Cloud' or 'getting Cloud,' then you are referring to me. If you are just outside with Marlene and Denzel, looking up at the sky and talking about 'clouds' or 'a cloud,' then you are talking about the fluffy white things in the sky. Sometimes regular words can also be names."

Hikari thought for a moment and then pointed at the sky. "A cloud." She spread her arms to encompass the sky. "Many clouds." Then she pointed at Cloud, saying, "You are Cloud."

He nodded. "That's right."

Hikari looked at Tifa. "What is a tifa? Is pretty-soft-dark thing?"

It took Tifa a moment to sort out what Hikari was trying to say. "Oh, my name is not like Cloud's. There is nothing else called 'a tifa.' Most people have names that are only used as names and not words with other meanings, like Marlene, Vincent, Denzel, and me."

"Oh." Hikari looked thoughtful for a moment, putting a hand over her heart.

"Hikari," asked Denzel curiously, "how come you make that motion?"

The young woman blinked her strange eyes in confusion.

"Putting your hand over your heart like this," the boy clarified, demonstrating the movement. "You always look like you're thinking very hard when you do that."

"Help me remember," Hikari replied with a shrug. "Always do when want to remember something perfect always."

"And what happens if you don't make that motion?" Vincent asked quietly, curious in spite of himself.

Hikari shrugged again. "Might remember, might forget. When not know something, I put in back of head to look at later. Might know better then." She lowered her gaze. "I sorry not talk so good, but…" Hikari paused and looked up, her eyes determined. "But…will try and work hard so I not talk so bad later."

Tifa smiled and patted Hikari's hand. "Don't worry, Hikari, you are pretty easy to understand and you've improved a lot. It's just hard for _you_ to understand what _we_ say sometimes, isn't it?"

The young woman nodded. "Yes, sometimes, but you try to use words I follow. Sometimes get lost, but not too bad. I promise to keep trying."

Suddenly Marlene came running up, Yuffie in tow, holding a bunch of flowers. "Hikari! Hikari!" she called. "Come see, come look!" The little girl held out a bundle of bright yellow blooms in front of the young woman, a bright smile on her face. "Sunflowers! We have sunflowers growing!"

But Hikari wasn't smiling. She slowly reached out and touched the sunflowers, a look of sorrow and loneliness on her face.

"What is it, Hikari?" asked Marlene, looking worried. "What's wrong? Don't you like flowers?"

Hikari lightly stroked the petals. "Miss Lucy…?" she said softly, almost to herself.

Yuffie cocked her head to one side. "Sunflowers…they remind you of her?"

Hikari nodded. "Last song she sang to me…it had sunflowers."

Marlene's face fell. "I'm sorry, Hikari."

The young woman turned her mismatched eyes on the girl and she made an effort to smile. "No, Marlene. No be sad. You not mean sadness with flowers for they are very pretty. It is Hikari who has shadow in the heart, not Marlene."

Marlene started smiling again, and talk turned to other things, but Vincent saw that Hikari wasn't listening. Instead, she was staring off into the distance beyond the hill, her eyes lost and far away.

~ * ~

Soon the sun had hidden behind the hills and the stars began their silent dance across the deepening indigo curtain of the sky. Dinner was over, the children were tucked away in bed, and the other had also gone to their rest. Vincent had accepted Barret's offer to stay the night downstairs, but he was standing at the broad living room window rather than sleeping, looking out into the darkness.

"Vincent?" A soft voice spoke out of the dark.

The ex-Turk whirled, hand automatically reaching for his holster, but then stopped. "Hikari," he said, "what are you doing down here? You should be asleep."

The young woman cocked her head to one side, the black side of her hair turned silver in the moonlight. "You awake too," Hikari pointed out, sitting down on the far side of the bench in front of the window and drawing one knee to her chest. "Not sleepy?"

Vincent looked back out the window. "No," he said. "I don't need to sleep as often as the others."

"Me neither."

He glanced at her. "Is that so?"

Hikari nodded. "Sleeping sideways is new, not sure if like it. Used to up all time, but trying. Tifa worries when I sleep standing. Afraid I fall."

Vincent remembered Tifa's concerns when they were camping outside Midgar and smiled slightly. "That's Tifa. Aside from sleeping sideways…do you like it here, Hikari?"

Another bright smile came across Hikari's face as she looked at Vincent and nodded. "Yes! Learning so much so fast, seeing all new things and new words! And everyone so nice! Yuffie talk fast, but very funny and she tell good stories. Marlene and Denzel tell many things. They very…paa…pay…patient with me."

Vincent regarded Hikari thoughtfully. "Sounds like you're fitting in just fine."

"I very glad you come back, Vincent," she said, pressing a hand to her heart. Then her face fell slightly and she gazed at him with a question in her eyes. "But…why go in silent shadows not saying when you return? Not even telling Cloud and Tifa? Why?"

For a moment there was silence. "You don't like it when people go away, do you, Hikari?" Vincent said quietly.

Hikari shook her head. "No. Too many times they go and not come back."

"Like Miss Lucy?"

"Yes, like Miss Lucy."

"When did you last see her? How long ago was that?"

A look of frustration crossed Hikari's face. "Not know," she said. "Time and distance…these new things to me, not sure how to take and make work for when in tank. No where to travel, only look up, see birds and sun and moon and stars pass in deep-sky-bright-dance. Many times pass, not know how many. Time…time…not exist in tank. Time stop." She looked up at the silent, scarlet-clad figure. "And you still not say why left, Vincent. Why go and not say?"

"I had to go see someone," Vincent answered carefully. "A friend of mine."

"Why?"

"To find some answers, some information."

"Did friend help?"

"Well, I'll probably find out in a few days," Vincent answered wryly, "maybe longer. Depends on how deeply hidden the information is."

"Oh." Hikari looked out the window, and for a moment, neither of them spoke. The childlike smile was gone from her face, and she looked strangely thoughtful. "Vincent…you not trust me, do you?"

Vincent blinked, slightly startled, and looked sharply at her. "What do you mean?"

She didn't look at him, but stayed focused on the night gathered outside the window. "You not want me here. Think that I…wrong. That I…" She paused and took a breath, speaking in a low voice. "That I am a bad thing like the falling star."

He closed his eyes. _How am I going to explain this?_ Vincent wondered. He hadn't expected Hikari to pick up such subtle clues and piece them together. He'd underestimated her, and now she deserved to hear the truth…but, at the same time, he didn't want to hurt her. _And why does that bother me? _"I don't think that _you_ are bad, Hikari," Vincent said slowly. "But there may be something you are carrying inside you that is bad."

Hikari looked at Vincent, confusion clouding her eyes. "Something…inside me? Can…can bad thing go? Be taken out?"

The ex-Turk shrugged. "I don't know," he said gently. "There might not be anything at all. But until we are sure…"

"Do…do others…think that? That I bad?" Hikari asked. Vincent swiftly glanced at her again. It was clear that the young woman was trying to be brave, but her voice was trembling and she was gripping her fingers tightly to keep them from shaking.

"No," said Vincent. "They don't think you are bad. But you might end up hurting yourself, or someone else, without meaning to. I want to make sure that doesn't happen."

Hikari leapt to her feet. "Won't hurt!" she cried, putting a fisted hand to her chest. "Won't hurt anyone! Not Marlene, not Denzel, or Tifa, or Cloud, or anyone!" Her mismatched eyes were wide. "Hikari promises!"

Vincent regarded her silently for a moment. "You might not be able to keep that promise," he said.

Hikari looked solemn. "Marlene say promise is a big strong thing. That must not make unless sure and must never, ever break. I, Hikari, promise to never hurt."

Strangely touched by her childlike sincerity, Vincent inclined his head. "All right, Hikari," he said. "I believe you. But we still need to learn more about you. I will probably have to go traveling again."

She nodded. "Tifa say same thing. That you travel long times, many times. Just…next time…please say when going, Vincent, and when coming back. So, if gone too long, I can go find."

"That isn't necessary…"

Hikari shook her head, scarlet and sapphire eyes fierce. "You came for me," the strange young woman said firmly, "so Hikari come for you. That too is promise."

Vincent was once again strangely touched and surprised. "You make a lot of promises, Hikari."

She smiled slightly, cocking her head to one side. "Maybe Vincent not trust me, but Hikari trust Vincent. I not afraid…and not sorry to make promise."

"Well, then," he said quietly, taking a seat in one of the armchairs, "that's that." And the ex-Turk and the strange girl sat in contented silence within the silver pool of moonlight until dawn slipped in through the curtains.

~ * ~


	6. Test of Courage

Chapter 6

_**Test of Courage**_

Over the next several days, they fell into a routine. During the day, Hikari would have her language lessons with Tifa and go outside to play with Marlene and Denzel. Red XIII and Yuffie often accompanied them, although the little group never went far from the house. Tifa, Barret, Cloud, and Vincent would take turns keeping an eye on Hikari and using their own limited access to old Shinra and WRO databases to try to find any information on the young woman. Their searches proved fruitless, but at least it _felt_ like they were doing something. Days passed with no word from Reeve, but, despite his growing impatience, Vincent did not disappear from Barret's house again.

At night, Vincent and Hikari would sit in the moonlit living room and talk. Hikari told him what she could about her time in the tank and Vincent told her about the world of Gaia. The ex-Turk was not very talkative, but Hikari's persistent, soft-voiced questions slowly drew the words from him. Vincent told Hikari about the adventures Cloud and the others had experienced over the years, the battles with Sephiroth, the disease called "geo-stigma," the rise and fall of Kadaj's gang, and even some about fighting Deepground and OMEGA. He also told her of the many strange things he had seen in his travels, from Yuffie's west island homeland of Wutai to the mysterious Sleeping Forest and the Forgotten City of the north, capital of the ancient Cetra. Hikari listened with wide-eyed fascination, drinking up the stories like a parched flower would absorb water after a rainstorm.

"You travel so far, see so many things," Hikari said one evening, a wistful note in her voice. "Wish I could go see too."

"Well, perhaps one day you will," Vincent said, the slight flicker of his smile hidden by his red cloak.

Hikari tilted her head to the side. "Which place your favorite?" she asked. "Where like to go most?"

Vincent thought for a moment. "The Sleeping Forest," he finally answered.

"Why?"

"It is…quiet there. Very peaceful. I like going there to think."

"We go there sometime?" she asked, a look of eager joy on her face.

Again Vincent hid a slight smile. "Maybe," he said, unwilling to dash her hopes, but equally unwilling to make any promises. If Hikari noticed his avoidance of commitment, she made no sign, content to hear more about the Sleeping Forest and the other places Vincent had seen.

But the peace did not last for long. The phone call, that Vincent had been both anticipating and dreading, came.

He was on the patio with Cloud and Tifa watching Hikari play with Red XIII and the children when his phone rang.

"Vincent? It's Reeve. We've been digging almost around the clock since you came to headquarters but haven't found much. I never realized how many experiments Shinra Corporation was sponsoring both on and under the table until now…"

The ex-Turk's grip tightened imperceptibly on the phone. "What have you found out?"

Reeve sighed. "Vincent…this is hard to ask, but I'm afraid Hikari will have to be brought in for testing. We have so little to go on…if we find out more about Hikari's condition as she is now, we may be able to cross-reference our findings in the databases to see if any matches or similar experiments were conducted. That will narrow the field considerably and may turn up new information."

Vincent hesitated. "What sort of tests?"

"Blood samples, tissues samples, mental and physical exercises, some scans...it shouldn't be too intrusive. After all, we're not trying to experiment on Hikari, just find out more about her."

There was a long pause. "Alright. But go slowly and gently. There's no telling what might happen if she gets scared."

He could hear the relief in Reeve's voice. "Cid should be at Barret's by this evening. He'll bring Hikari to headquarters."

"I'm coming too."

"Pardon me?"

Vincent's voice was firm, brooking no argument. "I'm coming with Hikari. My presence may help keep her calm enough for you to run the tests without incident. Without familiar faces around, she gets rather nervous, and that would only make your job more difficult."

"Alright then. I look forward to seeing you, Vincent, and meeting Hikari."

As Vincent tucked his phone away, Tifa and Cloud fixed him with inquiring looks.

"What did Reeve say?" Cloud asked.

"He wants to run some tests on Hikari," Vincent replied, "to find out more about her condition now and run checks on preexisting data to find any matches. That will give them a better starting point."

Tifa looked up the hill at Hikari who was tickling Red XIII, much to the delight of Yuffie and the two children. "How do you think Hikari will react?" she asked softly.

Vincent shook his head slightly. "I don't know."

"I don't think she'll like the idea," Cloud said thoughtfully, "but if we explain that no one is going to hurt her, that she's among friends…"

Tifa still looked doubtful and worried. "But what if she doesn't want to go?"

"She won't be told until we reach the WRO."

Both Cloud and Tifa looked at Vincent. Cloud looked simply startled while Tifa appeared horrified. "Not tell her?" Tifa repeated incredulously.

"We can't risk _not_ knowing," Vincent said quietly. "I don't like the idea either, but unless we find out what was done to that girl, no one will be safe. At the very least, she may be a danger to herself."

Cloud nodded reluctantly. It was a nasty trick, but Vincent was right. They had to know.

"Then I'm coming as well," Tifa said. "No, Cloud, my mind is made up," she added, holding up a hand to forestall any of Cloud's objections. "I've been Hikari's teacher for nearly two weeks now. If anyone is going to explain this to her, it should be me."

The two men exchanged a glance. "Your choice," Vincent said. "The _Shera_ will be here by nightfall. We'll leave before dawn tomorrow."

~ * ~

Hikari quickly added "flying" to her mental list of things that she adored and wanted to do again as many times as she could. It was such a strange sensation to be looking down at the clouds rather than up at them. Strange…but not unpleasant. The sky-ship _Shera_'sflight was smooth and level with a comforting background hum of the engines that made a pleasant vibration in Hikari's bones. Cid had been unable to leave his post at the captain's wheel, but Shera was eager to show Hikari around her namesake. The ship was fascinating, so complex with all its little gears and wheels working together and if one little thing didn't work right, then everything would fall apart. "A ship is a physical embodiment of teamwork," Shera said proudly. Hikari wasn't quite sure what that meant, but dutifully filed it away in her mind to look at later.

The young woman noticed that Tifa wasn't as cheerful as she normally was, her smile a little forced and sometimes Hikari caught Tifa glancing worriedly in her direction. Hikari wasn't sure what to make of it, and so she settled for patting Tifa's hand reassuringly, saying, "No worry, Tifa. Sky-ship no fall down. Shera and Cid not let that happen."

Tifa blinked, as if confused, and then smiled back. "Yes, I know. I'm not worried." But the concern did not leave her dark eyes.

Not knowing what else to do for her friend, Hikari wandered back to the main deck where she could see the cream-and-caramel afternoon sky passing in front of them and even below them. She could even walk on the stiff air that made up part of the floor and not fall! _Glass_, Hikari reminded herself. _It's glass, like in windows at Barret's house. That's why we don't fall into clouds._

She glanced back at Vincent. He too had been very quiet so far during the day-long flight. Of course, he was almost always quiet anyway, but this quiet didn't feel like the ones back in the living room at night. This quiet was more…tense. Again, Hikari had the nagging feeling that something was bothering her friends, but they were pretending that everything was fine. _Maybe all _is_ well_, she thought. _Maybe they just thinking hard_.

Hikari walked up to Vincent. "You like flying?"

She couldn't see his mouth because of the mantle of his cape, but the expression in his red eyes softened slightly, which told her he was smiling. "It has its advantages," Vincent said.

"Yes, faster than walking," Hikair said, nodding wisely. "Much faster. And less bouncy," she added, grinning knowingly. She could tell Vincent hadn't liked riding Cloud's bike. Vincent blinked in surprise at her words, and then nodded, the faint smile widening slightly.

"So, where flying to?" Hikari asked curiously, mimicking the scarlet-clad man by leaning back again the wall. The young woman was surprised to see Tifa, who was only a few steps away, jerk her head sharply in their direction. Confused, she looked expectantly at Vincent, awaiting his reply. This time, there was no hidden smile.

"We're going to see another friend of ours," Vincent finally replied. "His name is Reeve."

She thought for a moment. "That the one you go see before? When disappeared?"

"Yes."

Hikari's eyes brightened and she clapped her hands. "Good! Want to meet more of Vincent's and Tifa's friends! Friends of friends my friends too!"

But neither of the others seemed to share her joy. Vincent looked away from her and Tifa turned away, her pale face sad. Hikari looked at them curiously, hoping for an explanation, but when none was forthcoming, she skipped back over to talk to Shera. At least _she_ seemed happy about flying!

~ * ~

The flight from Edge to the new WRO headquarters in Kalm took only a night and part of the next day, as opposed to the week Vincent had spent on the road last time. By mid-afternoon, the _Shera_ had touched down. Cid had some business to take care of while in Kalm, and he said that he'd be willing to fly them back to Edge when they were ready.

"Just say the word and we'll be off!" the rough captain said with a smart salute.

Hikari gave Shera and Cid a hug, much to Cid's surprise and delight. "Thank you for flying us!" said Hikari, eyes shining. "So much fun and so smooth! We fly again, yes?"

Cid grinned and clapped the young woman companionably on the shoulder. "Sure thing, darlin', just say the word."

Hikari blinked in confusion. "Say what word? Ouch?" She looked even more confused when Cid and Shera started laughing.

"It's a figure of speech, Hikari," Shera said gently. "I'm sure Tifa will explain it to you later. But right now, I think you have someone waiting to see you."

Vincent turned and saw Reeve, still in his traditional blue robe-like outfit, standing at the entrance. Hikari waved, a smile on her face, and walked towards him in her odd tip-toe manner, a habit that Tifa hadn't broken her of yet. The ex-Turk and the dark-haired girl followed their smiling friend.

"Welcome to the new headquarters of the World Regenesis Organization," Reeve said, spreading his hands in a gesture of welcome. "It's good to see you two again, Tifa, Vincent." He turned his keen, dark-eyed gaze on Hikari. "And you must be Hikari. My name is Reeve, and I'm very pleased to meet you at last."

"Hello Reeve," Hikari replied, bobbing her head politely, never ceasing to smile. She studied him and reached out a hand towards his face with an inquisitive look. "What this? Why have…fuzzies on face?"

It took Reeve a moment before he worked out that Hikari was referring to his moustache and beard. So far, the only people Hikari had met were either women or men with no facial hair. He smiled, chuckling. "It's called a beard, perfectly natural. Some men grow them."

The strange young woman blinked. "Why? Wouldn't that be hot and itchy?"

"Sometimes it can be in the summer. It's more of a matter of taste, really. As for myself, it's far easier to simply trim it than going through all the trouble to stay clean-shaven."

Hikari still looked bewildered and confused, but turned her attention from the blue-clad man to the building behind him. "This bright-big place! So tall! You make?"

Reeve blinked in surprise, and then laughed. "No, not all by myself. We're still recovering from some…bad things that occurred earlier this year."

Hikari nodded, mismatched eyes serious. "Yes, Deepground and OMEGA. Vincent tell me some. All ok now?"

Again, Reeve seemed surprised, but hid it. "Mostly. Please, won't you three join me for some refreshment?"

The young woman perked up. "Food?" she asked eagerly. So far, Hikari's experiences with food had been happy and mouth-watering ones.

The head of the WRO laughed uproariously. "You young people," he said, shaking his head and continuing to chuckle all the way inside.

"Friend Reeve not make much sense," Hikari confided to Tifa as they followed him inside. "Is because of beard?"

Tifa started laughing then as well, and Hikari looked helplessly at Vincent. "What I say?"

Vincent shook his head, amused in spite of himself. "Don't worry about it. They're just being silly."

"Knew it was the beard," Hikari muttered, which just set Tifa and Reeve laughing again.

~ * ~

_Reeve sure is taking his time_, Vincent thought darkly, shooting a hard look at the head of the WRO who was laughing with Hikari. Tifa was trying to act nonchalant, but the delay was getting to her as well. Not that he _wanted_ to send Hikari through those tests, but the sooner they got it over with, the sooner they could leave. _Heh. Funny I should think of leaving rather than of the information we're trying to find, the entire reason we came here_, the ex-Turk reflected, slightly surprised at his train of thought.

"Miss Hikari," Reeve said, "while you are here, there's a favor I'd like to ask of you."

"Favor?" Hikari repeated, frowning. "That mean…I do something you need done?"

"Yes, exactly," said Reeve, guiding her towards the elevator, Tifa and Vincent still acting as their faithful shadows. Reeve pressed a button and leaned back against the wall as the elevator began its descent. "You see, Hikari, we don't know much about you. Vincent came here almost two weeks ago and we've been searching the records ever since, but haven't been able to find anything. Whether that simply means there is no data to be found or if it means we just aren't looking in the right place, well, that I don't know. So, we need your help."

Hikari looked down at her hands and clasped them. "I sorry, but not sure if I be good help. Marlene not teach about squiggles – I mean, writing – yet, so can't read. Not know names of people outside tank besides Miss Lucy. Told Vincent what could about time in tank, but since I not talk so good…" She spread her hands helplessly. "Not sure if _can_ help."

The elevator stopped and as they stepped out, Reeve said, "There is another way you can help us, Hikari."

Hikari stepped out of the elevator, looked up, and froze. The elevator had deposited them in a hallway with wide glass windows that showed an almost panoramic view of a laboratory, complete with preservation tanks, scanning equipment, operating tables, massive computers, and white-clad technicians.

Vincent shivered involuntarily at the memories conjured up by the mere sight of the lab. He had mostly come to terms with his past after the fight with OMEGA, but the ex-Turk knew that he would never be able to walk into a lab without dredging up his more unpleasant memories. He glanced at Hikari to gauge her reaction.

The young woman's face had gone pale, making the red tattoo on her left cheek and her wide eyes stand out even more. For a moment she just stood there, eyes darting from one white-robed scientist to the next before finally settling on Reeve.

"What…what is favor?" Hikari asked, her voice surprisingly steady despite her tensed muscles.

Reeve took a deep breath. "We would like to run some tests on you, Hikari. Blood samples, some scans…"

"Why?" Hikari stepped closer to the lab, placing a hand on the window, and looking at the blue-robed man. She actually seemed more curious now than afraid, but the slight quaver was still in her voice.

"We need to see what was done to your body," Reeve explained. "There is so little information on where you come from or what was done to you…we need to make sure that you are not sick."

"But already promised," the young woman said, looking at Vincent, red and blue eyes confused. "Already promised not to hurt anyone…"

Tifa stepped forward, placing a comforting arm around Hikari's shoulders. "You don't have to do this, Hikari," she said, her voice fiercely protective. "If you're scared, we can just go home. There's no need to put you through this."

But the strange girl shook her head. "No," Hikari said softly, "there is need." She took a deep breath, straightened her shoulders, and looked Reeve in the eye. "Will do this. Do tests. And if…" Her voice faltered for a moment. "If find…bad thing….please, take out. Take out bad so…so Hikari can be trusted."

~ * ~

One of the female technicians led Hikari into the lab, but made it abundantly clear that Vincent, Tifa, and Reeve had to remain outside the glass windows. "It's imperative that we be allowed to work quickly and efficiently, and we can't do that with you three cluttering up the lab," the technician said. Neither Vincent nor Tifa were happy with this restriction, but had little choice in the matter.

Vincent was not sure exactly how long the procedures lasted. The scientists took turns, rolling the trolley that Hikari lay on from one workstation to the next, drawing blood, running her through scanners, hooking up various patches to her wrists and temples, and putting her through or into some machines that didn't have an easily identifiable purpose. At one point during the tests, the scientists even placed Hikari in one of the tanks with needles inserted in the back of her neck. The young woman seemed to balk more at the sight of the needles than at the tank, which surprised Vincent, but she obeyed the direction of the scientists without making a fuss. Only the tense muscles of her back and her wide eyes showed her nervousness.

The entire time, Hikari kept her eyes on Tifa, Vincent, and Reeve standing outside the lab. It was as if she was afraid that if she looked away they would disappear, leaving her locked in the lab. When she lost sight of them, Hikari's whole body would tense, only relaxing when her friends were back in her line of sight. It was heartbreaking to watch.

Finally, the scientists appeared to have finished. The needles and patches were removed and Hikari was let out of the tank, dried off, and escorted to the door. She looked pale and a little unsteady on her feet, but otherwise unharmed. Vincent released a sigh of relief he hadn't realized he had been holding.

As soon as she stepped outside the lab, Hikari ran towards her friends, grabbing Tifa's hands, her mismatched eyes darting from Tifa to Vincent and back. "You know me?" she asked urgently, eyes wide.

Vincent and Tifa exchanged glances. What was going on?  
Their hesitation increased Hikari's agitation and Vincent winced slightly as the young woman grabbed his gloved right hand in a crushing grip. "You know me? You know Hikari?"

"What do you mean? Of course we know you!" Tifa exclaimed. She glared at Reeve accusingly. "What happened? Did they do something to Hikari?"

Reeve looked both perplexed and concerned, but before he could say anything, Hikari wrapped her arms around Tifa in an embrace, burying her face in the other girl's dark hair. "No," she said softly, her voice muffled. "No, they not…I just afraid…afraid you forget me." Abruptly Hikari pushed away, covering her mouth.

"Are you alright?" Vincent asked, concerned.

"I think I'm gonna be sick," Hikari gasped, clutching her stomach. She staggered away a few steps and vomited onto the floor. Vincent crouched down beside the young woman, steadying her, while Reeve offered his handkerchief. When Hikari was done, Tifa wiped her face clean and Vincent helped her to her feet.

"Sorry," Hikari said in a tiny voice, looking ashamed. "Not mean to…"

"Don't worry about it," Reeve said, dark eyes examining her carefully. "I'm more concerned about you. Are you alright? I didn't expect…"

"It ok, friend Reeve," Hikari said weakly, although she still looked pale and ill. "Just made self sick because nervous." She closed her eyes. "Please," she said softly. "Please, we go home now?"

"Yes, Hikari," Vincent said, giving Reeve and the scientists in the lab a dark look that brooked no arguments. "Yes, we're all going home now."

~ * ~

The sun was setting when Vincent, Hikari, Tifa, and Reeve set foot outside the WRO headquarters once more. The _Shera _was ready and waiting to whisk them back to Edge. Hikari had regained some color and she hadn't been sick again, but she was still a little shaky and her hands were still trembling slightly. But she still gave Reeve a good-bye hug before Tifa led her into the _Shera_. Vincent was about to follow the two women when Reeve's hand on his arm stopped him.

"I'll call you as soon as we find out anything," the head of the WRO said. Vincent nodded silently and started to turn away, but again the hand made him pause.

"Vincent…" Reeve paused a moment as if embarrassed, then took a breath and plunged ahead. "I am very sorry to have frightened Hikari so badly. Truly, very sorry. If there's anything I can do to make it up to her…"

"Hikari isn't the kind to hold a grudge," Vincent said quietly. "In her mind, you and the lab are separate things. As far as she's concerned, you are 'Friend Reeve'."

The blue-clad man relaxed, which surprised Vincent. He hadn't expected Reeve to be _that_ concerned about what Hikari thought of him.

"She really is one of a kind, isn't she, Vincent?"

"So it would seem," the ex-Turk replied quietly, and then joined the others on the sky-ship. Reeve watched as the _Shera_ lifted off, shielding his eyes with one hand for the dying light of the sun, wind whipping his blue coat. He stood there for a long time, watching until the _Shera_ and its odd group of passengers was out of sight.

~ * ~

Flying at night was a new experience, and a rather breath-taking one. The stars shimmered like a curtain of diamonds across the indigo spread of the sky and the full moon edged the clouds in silver. Only a skeleton crew was on duty; Cid, Shera, and Tifa were all asleep in their quarters. But Hikari was not. Vincent had gone to check on her and, after finding her bunk empty, went to the most likely place for her to be: the bridge, the one place she could sit and see the stars.

His guess proved to be correct. Hikari was sitting on the glass section of the floor, chin resting on her knees which she'd pulled up to her chest, arms wrapped around her legs. She didn't turn or look around as Vincent came up beside her and sat down, but continued looking straight ahead at the sky passing by. The scarlet-clad man said nothing, knowing from past experience that if Hikari felt ready to talk, then she would.

The silence stretched on for a time as the stars passed overhead. Then, Hikari stirred. "Is friend Reeve mad?"

This was the last question Vincent had expected. "No. In fact, he's more worried that you are angry with him."

Hikari looked at Vincent, surprise evident in her mismatched eyes. "Why would think that?"

"Because the tests made you so afraid that you became ill."

"Oh." Hikari looked away. "Wasn't…wasn't too scared. Not till the tank. And the needles." She shuddered.

"You know that we would not leave you there."

Hikari's face was sad and the fear still lurked in her eyes. "Yes, know that. But you would…if you forgot me."

Vincent blinked. "Hikari, how would that have happened? You watched Tifa and I the whole time and saw that we never left."

"Yes, but…" Her voice trailed off. "The needles," she whispered.

"What about the needles?" Vincent asked, his voice surprisingly gentle. "Why did the needles frighten you so much? I thought you would be more afraid of the tanks they had."

For a moment Hikari said nothing, as if she was struggling to find the words. "I…I remember something, something that pushed away in back of head, but remembered…when saw the needles."

She paused and Vincent waited patiently until she started speaking again.

"When…when was in tank, many things happen. Still not know what or how long, but…hurt. Lots of hurt. They didn't care, the others, the ones outside. Didn't see Hikari, didn't see _me_." Her voice was suddenly fierce, but then it dropped back into the same quiet matter-of-factness that characterized Hikari's discussions of her past. "Only Miss Lucy see me. She not like others. Young, like me, maybe same. Maybe that why saw me, because could see self in tank. That it could have been her being hurt, not me. Then…then, one day, it happened."

"What happened, Hikari?" Vincent coaxed.

"Miss Lucy…Miss Lucy let me out."

The ex-Turk blinked, startled. Hikari had never said anything before about being let out of her tank before.

"She said that was time to go, that was bad thing, very bad thing for me to be in tank. She said Hikari should be outside with birds and grass and sun, not in dark place. So she let me out and tried taking me out of the place with the tank and the blinking lights, and the others.

"But the others caught us. They were very angry with Miss Lucy, very angry that let me out. They still not see Hikari. Put me back in tank. Miss Lucy tried to stop them, but they many and strong. She just one alone. Then they…then they…"

Hikari stopped, taking a deep, shuddering breath. "Then, they put needles in her neck. And, when Miss Lucy wake up…she not remember me. The needles…they made her forget."

Vincent stared. No wonder Hikari had been so afraid, running to him and Tifa, begging them to tell her if they remembered her.

"They put needles in neck too," Hikari continued softly, lightly touching the back of her neck. "Put needles in, say I forget all and be good again. But remembered. Like with learning, put memory in back of head where needles couldn't get. Some things fuzzy, need something to call back. But not know, even now, how much needles took away."

Vincent bowed his head. "I'm sorry," he said quietly.

Hikari uncurled slightly and touched Vincent's clawed hand. "No be sorry, Vincent," she said, the smile coming back to her face. "Favor done and may help friend Reeve find out what need to know. This good thing."

The ex-Turk felt a slight smile cross his face. "You always try to find the bright side of things, don't you, Hikari?"

She nodded solemnly, red and blue eyes earnest. "It the only side I know to find."

~ * ~


	7. Seeking Answers and Finding Trouble

Chapter 7

_**Seeking Answers and Finding Trouble**_

Another few days passed with silence from Reeve. Hikari appeared fully recovered from her scare at the WRO lab and did not mention it or anything regarding the needles again when she and Vincent had their nighttime conversations. Everyone once in a while, though, during their comfortable silences, Hikari would shiver and draw herself into a small ball as if by becoming smaller she could escape whatever memories came to torment her. Vincent was not sure what to do when this happened, so he would remain sitting in silence until she uncurled.

During this time, the other members of this strange little family were continuously careful not to let Hikari wander away from the house. Until they got some solid information from Reeve, it didn't seem like a good idea to take Hikari out to mingle with the rest of society. Hikari did not seem upset by her unofficial captivity, but Yuffie was going crazy.

"She's been here for _months _now and she hasn't gotten to see _any_ of Edge! Not even once!" the young ninja stormed. Hikari was outside with Marlene and Denzel, and out of earshot of the argument going on inside the house.

"It hasn't been _that_ long…" Red XIII said, but Yuffie waved a hand impatiently.

"Weeks, months, doesn't matter!" Yuffie said. "Point is we're treating her like a prisoner! She's no better off than she was in that tank of hers!"

"I think she has a little more freedom here than in that tank," Tifa said softly, trying to calm Yuffie, but the girl wasn't listening.

"She should get a chance to experience _normal_ life for a while!" fumed the young ninja. "C'mon, we all _know_ that she's harmless."

"We won't know for sure until Reeve contacts us again," Vincent said quietly.

"Pah! If we wait for that blue bearded slow-poke, Hikari will be _ancient_ before she gets out of this house!"

Cloud tried to get a word in. "Chronologically—"

Yuffie only allowed him that one word before continuing her rant. "She's, like, Marlene's age…at least, in her head. She's sweet and gentle and nice and I _know_ she wants to see more of Edge! It'd help her adjust to see _normal_ people for a change!"

"There's the pot calling the kettle black," muttered Red XIII, and Tifa tried to smother a giggle.

Vincent, on the other hand, was getting irritated. "Yuffie, that's enough. We don't know—"

"We don't know, we don't know!" The ninja stuck out her tongue. "Well, _I_ know that she's just an innocent girl who deserves to be treated like a human being, not a test subject in an experiment."

The ex-Turk tried appealing to reason again. "That's actually why—"

"Why what? You going to keep her here under observation like a bug under glass?" Yuffie snorted. "Honestly, Vince, you're as bad as those Shinra scientists."

The temperature in the room abruptly dropped about ten degrees.

"That was uncalled for, Yuffie," Cloud said quietly, eyeing Vincent warily.

The ex-Turk looked like a statue carved of vermilion marble. Yuffie, realizing that she'd crossed the line, shut her mouth tightly, but her face still wore a defiant scowl.

After a few long moments of tense silence, Vincent spoke, his voice tightly controlled, but his red eyes smoldered. "Fine. Do as you wish. Take her cavorting all over town. And know that the consequences will fall on your head." With those words, the ex-Turk turned sharply and left the room.

A chorus of relieved sighs followed in his wake.

~ * ~

_How did I get into this mess? _Vincent wondered a few hours later, repressing a sigh of annoyance.

Actually, he knew the answer to that question. It was Hikari. The girl had sounded so happy to be going out into Edge; her cry of delight had reached his ears from a block away after he'd stormed out of Barret's house. He had silently returned to the house as if pulled by a magnet to see her reaction. Hikari had looked so downcast when Yuffie told her that he wasn't coming and, in fact, disapproved of the whole idea.

"If Vincent not come and not want me to go, then Hikari should stay," she had said, but the yearning on her face as she looked towards the rest of the town was too much for the ex-Turk. So, gruff and glaring, he'd agreed to join them on their little expedition into Edge.

That was why, several hectic hours later, Vincent found himself in the last place he ever wanted to be: a dance hall. Ex-Turks were supposed to be silent, alert, and immune to their surroundings, but he'd never felt so out of place before. Luckily there were enough shadows in the corners of the warmly lit establishment that allowed the ex-Turk a nominal amount of privacy so he could stand and observe the others while remaining unobserved himself.

Hikari had been ecstatic the entire day, surrendering herself completely to Yuffie's whirlwind tour. It was amazing how she could maintain such a high level of enthusiasm…but then again, all of this was completely new to her. They'd scoured the streets for entertainment, open-air markets, construction sites, and any other attraction Yuffie could think of with Tifa, Cloud, and Vincent trailing behind. Marlene and Denzel had both wanted to go as well, but Barret put his foot down, figuring that Vincent would have his hands full just keeping an eye on Yuffie and Hikari. This first day, they didn't need a bunch of distractions. Reluctantly the children had agreed, reassured by Tifa's promises that they could come along next time.

_Next time_…Vincent nearly groaned at the thought. He looked over at a nearby table. _At least Hikari is having fun._

Since this particular establishment served alcohol and food as well as music for dancing, the young woman was sitting at one of the tables with her other three companions being introduced to more foods. A bunch of noodles were hanging out of her mouth as she tried unsuccessfully to slurp them up like Yuffie was doing. The expression on Hikari's face was comical, and a slight smile crept across Vincent's face. So far the day had gone pretty well. No close calls or strange occurrences, for which the ex-Turk was very grateful. He only hoped their luck would last, at least until they got Hikari back to Barret's place.

Suddenly the lights changed, dimming on the tables and brightening the open stretch of dance floor as a small band began to play a fast-tempo song. Amidst all the suffering and strife that had rocked Midgar these past few years, some people had kept alive their musical talents, saving them for times of peace.

Hikari's head jerked up from her plate, food forgotten, as she stared in wide-eyed wonder. "What…what _that_?"

"Hmmm? What's what?" Yuffie asked, still slurping up the noodles.

"That…that _sound_. So…so pretty!"

Tifa smiled. "It's called 'music,' Hikari. The people over there, you see? They are musicians. They make music by playing instruments. We can even record the sounds they make and play them back later when the band is gone."

Hikari's mismatched eyes grow even wider and her body started swaying slightly back and forth with the beat. Grinning, Yuffie abandoned her noodles and pulled Hikari to her feet.

"C'mon, let's go dance!"

Bewildered, Hikari allowed the ninja to drag her towards the middle of the floor. "Dance?"

"Yeah, dance!" Yuffie began stamping out a tattoo on the floor with her feet to match the beat, bobbing, dipping, swaying, even jumping, whatever movement struck her fancy. Hikari just stood there for a moment, utterly and totally confused until Yuffie grabbed her hands and pulled her along. "You've gotta let go!" the young ninja cried, laughing. "Move with the rhythm, girl! Find the rhythm and _dance_!"

At first, Hikari was simply dragged along with Yuffie's enthusiasm, trying desperately to keep up with her and mimic the ninja's movements at the same time. But slowly Hikari found her footing and her confidence, the smile on her face growing wider and her eyes more brilliant as the music continued. There was a moment of confusion when that particular song ended and a new one began, but soon Hikari was twirling around the dance floor under her own power, her movements just as wild and free as Yuffie's. Her bright laughter floated over the music, adding a joyful accompaniment. It was the happiest Vincent had ever seen Hikari and it made him strangely glad.

His moment of contentment did not last long.

"Well, if it isn't Mr. Vincent Valentine. I must confess, I never thought I would find you in a place like this."

Vincent turned sharply, automatically reaching for his gun, but did not draw the weapon when he saw who had addressed him.

"Rufus Shinra," the ex-Turk said flatly.

The blond man before him smiled and bowed slightly, almost mockingly. "At your service."

Vincent had heard from Cloud that Rufus Shinra, son of the previous director of Shinra Corporation, had survived the destruction of the Shinra tower and had been part of the fiasco with Kadaj and his gang, but this was the first time Vincent had ever met him. Apparently Rufus had recovered from whatever injury had kept him confined to a wheelchair. The two Turk bodyguards, brooding Rude with his ever-present sunglasses and impulsive Reno with his bright red hair and rumpled appearance, loomed behind Rufus. Or rather, Rude loomed, trying to look menacing, and Reno leaned against the wall, perfectly at ease. For some reason, Reno's careless attitude irked Vincent even more than Rufus's mockery. Perhaps it was because Reno was a Turk and the Turks were supposed to be elite specialists…and not look like half-asleep school boys.

"So, what brings you here?" Rufus asked, pulling out a chair for himself and one for Vincent, who ignored the proffered seat. He didn't draw the Cerberus, but he didn't take his hand off it either.

"I could ask you the same thing."

Rufus laughed. "Ah, suspicious as always, but I assure you, Mr. Valentine, my presence here is completely peaceful and accidental."

"I doubt anything you do is accidental," Vincent replied.

"Or peaceful?" Rufus returned lightly.

The scarlet-clad man chose not to reply.

"Oh come, now, Mr. Valentine. We are all on the same side here. And I have no ill-will towards you or your companions whatsoever, so there's no need for you to be concerned."

"Then why are you here?"

Rufus put a hand to his heart, affecting a pained demeanor. "I cannot simply be passing by and stop in for a little music and refreshment? Your suspicions wound me, Mr. Valentine."

Before Vincent could come up with a response, Hikari skipped over and grabbed his clawed hand. Her mismatched eyes glowed with excitement.

"Vincent! Vincent! This _so_ much fun! Dancing and music and… and…_everything_! Fun fun fun!" She tugged on his hand. "Come dance! Come dance with me!"

Even the impassive Rude showed some surprise at Hikari's easy manner with the taciturn ex-Turk. Reno, no longer leaning against the wall, was openly gawking while Rufus looked more amused than anything else. Cloud, looking over, noticed the trio and started forward, but Vincent met his gaze with a slight shake of his head. He would handle this.

"Mind introducing us to your friend, Mr. Valentine?" Rufus asked, pushing back his chair and standing.

Hikari, noticing the three men, dropped Vincent's hand and bobbed a quick bow. "Oh, sorry! I not see you. My name Hikari. You friends of Vincent?"

Rufus, still smiling, took Hikari's hand and lightly kissed it while Vincent glowered. "A pleasure to meet you, Miss Hikari. I am Rufus Shinra. These are my guards, Rude and Reno."

"Rufus, Rude, and Reno," Hikari repeated, smiling brightly. "Reno, Rude, and Rufus!" She trilled the "r's" happily and laughed. "I sorry for laughing," she said, trying to get a hold of her mirth, "but names make such pretty one-sound—I mean, _rhyme_—like that." Hikari cocked her head to one side, looking at them with wide eyes. "You friends of Vincent and Cloud and Yuffie and Tifa?"

"Yes, we've worked together before," Rufus said, his amused blue gaze flickering to Cloud, "although I must confess that I regret not seeing your lovely face before."

"I only just come," Hikari replied, oblivious to Rufus's flattery. "Music and dancing much fun! So much fun! And Yuffie is good teacher." She looked up at Vincent and tugged on the edge of his crimson cape. "Come dance now, Vincent? Much fun, you like?" Hikari was so eager that she was literally bouncing from one foot to the other as if she was unable to stay still for longer than a few seconds.

"I'm afraid not, Hikari," Vincent said as gently as he could. Seeing her face start to fall, he hastily added, "I must speak with…_friend_ Rufus about something important. Do you understand?"

The young woman nodded solemnly. "Yes, good for Vincent to talk with friends. Should do more often." She grinned and then looked at Reno and Rude. "Come dance?" she asked innocently.

Rude shook his head and blushed, shifting his feet and muttering something intelligible. Reno was a little more articulate: "S-s-sure thing!" Smiling broadly, Hikari grabbed Reno's hand and drug him out on the dance floor with her and Yuffie. Within moments, the other dancers cleared off the floor, trying to evade the red-headed Turk whose dance moves were even more dangerous and extravagant than the young ninja's.

Rufus watched Hikari go, a look of amusement and consternation on his face. "So," he said softly, "that is Hikari."

Vincent tightened his grip on Cerberus. "You act like you know her or something about her. What is it?"

The former Shinra president looked at the grim face before him and sat down slowly. He steepled his fingers thoughtfully, as if debating how much to reveal. "My sources uncovered some interesting activity regarding a search for a young girl's origins. Needless to say, I was intrigued and decided to mount an investigation of my own. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that it was you, Mr. Valentine, who had initiated this search on Hikari's behalf."

Vincent's eyes narrowed. "So you do know something."

Rufus spread his hands as if to show that he was unarmed. "It's more like a lack of knowing something. There is no record of any Shinra research connected to her."

"None?"

"None."

"There must be some mistake."

The blond man raised an eyebrow. "You think Shinra was the only company to conduct human experiments? I never thought you were that naïve, Mr. Valentine. Shinra just seems to be…more notorious than most." This last Rufus said with a tone of distaste.

"Everything leaves a mark, a trail, a scent to follow," Vincent retorted, "particularly when it comes to hubristic scientists."

"Ah," Rufus said, making a gesture as if it were a toast, "that may be true, but if you aren't looking in the right place then you will never pick up that lingering scent, will you?"

Vincent glanced towards Hikari, twirling on the dance floor with Reno and Yuffie, face bright with laughter. _Who are you?_ Vincent wondered. _Where did you come from? And what happened to you? _These questions had been lurking in the back of his mind ever since they found Hikari in the crumbling laboratory…yet this was the first time that he had also wondered if it would be best to just let those questions remain unanswered. _To just let Hikari live her days as a regular person with Cloud and Tifa and Barret in Edge…Would that really be such a bad thing? Would that be better for her?_

Before the ex-Turk could question Rufus further, a disturbance at the main entrance caught his attention. Some kind of scuffle…

Suddenly, eight men, armed to the teeth with guns and knives drawn, burst through the door and spread out among the patrons, herding them towards the walls. The music abruptly stopped and people began screaming and backing away from the armed men. The screaming was abruptly silenced when the tallest and most well-muscled man, presumably the leader, fired his revolver at the ceiling. A death-like hush fell over the room.

"All right!" shouted the leader. "Keep your hands where we can see them! Be quiet and cooperate and we won't have to get nasty. Turn out your pockets of everything valuable. When one of my boys comes to you, put your…contribution in the bag. And no funny business! One wrong move and we'll start shooting, starting with this little lady. " He grinned lewdly at Hikari who was standing, frozen in the middle of the dance floor with Yuffie and Reno slightly behind her.

_Damn_, thought Vincent, still gripping his weapon. _If I start firing Cerberus, I could get this scum, but in such close quarters, the bullets would go right through them. I run the risk of killing the patrons._ One glance at the two Turks confirmed that they were similarly handicapped. Cloud didn't have his swords and Tifa, while she was good at hand-to-hand combat, couldn't move fast enough to avoid a bullet. _Hikari…_

A voice split the silence. "Hostiles detected. Assessing threat. Activating defense patterns. Initiate attack sequence 627-J-Alpha. Eight targets."

Vincent started. It was Hikari's voice…but the tone, the manner, was nothing like her. It was cold, bloodless…almost mechanical. She was still, still as stone, and her face and eyes were blank. Empty. A shiver of something akin to fear ran down his spine.

The bandit leader apparently felt no such sensation. The man took a step towards Hikari, gun pointed at her chest. "What're you—?"

He never got to finish his sentence.

Hikari burst into motion. With lightning speed, she grabbed the leader's arm and bent it backwards. There was a snap of bone, a howl of pain, and a clatter as the gun dropped to the floor. At the same time, Hikari yanked a knife from the leader's belt and drove it up to the hilt in his chest. With a gurgling groan, he sank to the floor.

The other seven men were turning, bringing their weapons to bear on the young woman, but Hikari was no longer standing in front of their fallen leader. In fact, as soon as the knife had buried itself in his chest, she dived to the side, tackling the nearest bandit. Taken by surprise, he toppled. In a flash, Hikari pulled the pistol from his stunned grip and fired two rounds, point blank, into his chest. The bullets tore through his body into the floor. She swiveled, aiming the pistol towards the two bandits who had remained near the door to guard the exit. Four more rounds fired off, two bullets finding each man's heart.

Clip empty, Hikari dropped the gun and sprang into the center of the room again. The remaining four bandits, realizing that they could not shoot without hitting one of their own, closed in, the blades of their daggers shining wickedly. One tried charging at her, hoping to bear her to the ground, but Hikari ducked the swing, one leg shooting out to knock the man down. He toppled backwards, the knife spinning away across the floor. Hikari leapt back on her feet and stomped down on his throat, crushing his windpipe.

Hearing the strangled gurgles of the dying man, one of the remaining bandits hesitated, then started backing away. The other two circled her, trying to find an opening. Hikari turned with them, one eye on each man, muscles tensed and ready to spring. The bandit who had backed away abruptly threw his knife at the young woman when her back was turned. Using this as a diversion, the two bandits circling her lunged forward, reasoning that she would be unable to evade blades coming from the back and both sides.

But Hikari was faster than the men had anticipated. She dropped to the ground and did a backward roll towards the bandit who had thrown the knife, catching the blade by the hilt as it flew overhead. The two other men, unable to stop their forward momentum, stabbed each other, howling in confusion and pain. Hikari, knife in hand, stood, took three quick steps towards them, and calmly slit both their throats with a pair of swift strokes. Then she turned back to the last man. With a look of stark terror, the bandit turned and tried racing for the door. His own knife caught him in the back and he sank silently to the ground. Once again, silence reigned.

The entire battle took less than a minute.

Hikari stood rigidly in the center of the room, surrounded by the bodies of the eight men. Her face was still and emotionless, eyes blank and empty. No one in the room dared to move, or even breathe.

Then her lips moved and she spoke in that same disturbing tone: "Targets eliminated. End attack sequence. Deactivating defense patterns. Normal parameters reestablished."

As if someone had thrown a switch, Hikari staggered slightly, shaking her head. "What…what happened?" she asked in her normal voice, putting a hand to her forehead. Then the young woman looked around, at the silent, frightened faces around her, at the bodies so quickly and easily dispatched, and at the blood spattered on her hands and clothes. She raised her hands, staring at them in growing horror, and then slowly looked up at Vincent.

"I…I…" Hikari tried to speak, to say something, but words failed her. Vincent could do nothing, say nothing, just stand and stare at this girl and the carnage she had wrought.

Hikari looked at her hands again and started trembling. She slowly knelt by one of the bodies and hesitantly touched it. Then she started shaking the corpse. "Get up," she whispered. "Get up, get up, get up!" Her voice started rising in urgency and hysteria. "Get up! Please, get up!"

Almost before he knew what he was doing, Vincent found himself kneeling by Hikari's side, and gently pulled her hands away from the body. "Stop, Hikari," he said in a voice that was much calmer than he felt. "There's nothing you can do."

She looked up at him, mismatched eyes wide, confused, and afraid. "But…why still? Why so…so still? Sleeping? Are they sleeping? Are they sick, are they broken?"

Vincent's crimson gaze was steady. "They are dead, Hikari."

The strange young woman's face went still. "Dead? They…they are…dead?"

He nodded.

She began shaking even harder, wrapping her arms around herself and rocking back and forth. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no…" she whispered. "Dead, they are dead. Hikari killed… Hikari killed them. _I_ _killed them_!" And then she broke down weeping.

Vincent carefully wrapped her in his red cloak, her sobs muffled by his chest. The others slowly drew near. Tifa's and Yuffie's faces were ghostly pale and Cloud looked grim. Reno looked both stunned and afraid.

A chair grated across the floor as Rufus stood and started walking towards the door, Rude and Reno falling in behind him.

"Wait!" Vincent's voice stopped them. "If you know anything about this, tell me!"

The pause, punctuated by Hikari's sobs, was interminable. Finally, Rufus spoke, and his tone seemed genuinely regretful. "I have no information for you, Vincent. You have to find a new way to search or a new name for it." The former Shinra director turned to look back at Vincent cradling Hikari and there was a hint of compassion in his blue gaze. "I wish you luck…but be wary of meddling with unknown substances."

~ * ~


	8. The Sentencing

Chapter 8

_**The Sentencing**_

Somehow they managed to get home without further incident. Hikari was shaking so badly that Vincent wasn't sure if she would be able to walk, but she refused to let him carry her. He steadied her as they left the dance hall and the numerous watchful and fear-filled eyes behind them. By the time they reached Barret's house, Hikari had stopped crying, but her eyes were so full of anguish they were like holes burned in her pale face. Tifa quietly led her up to their room, shaking her head and motioning for silence when Marlene and Denzel came bounding out, brimming with questions.

Barret took one look at the grim expressions on his friends' faces and sighed, pulling out one of the dining room chairs. "Alright," the big man said. "What happened?"

Cloud filled Barret in while Vincent leaned back into the shadows and Yuffie perched on one of the chairs, gnawing on her knuckles and shooting the ex-Turk frightened looks. Finally the young ninja burst out, "Just say it already!"

Vincent blinked. "Say what?"

Yuffie was on the verge of tears herself. "That you told me so! That this is all my fault! If I hadn't insisted on taking Hikari out into Edge, we'd would have never ended up in that _stupid_ bar and we wouldn't have run into those _stupid_ thugs, and Hikari…Hikari wouldn't have…wouldn't have had to…" Yuffie broke off with a sniffle, buried her face in her arms and started bawling.

Red XIII padded in, ears pricked up. "Is this whole house under invasion by weeping women?" the great cat asked, looking at Cloud.

The young man sighed, running a hand distractedly through his hair. "Yuffie's just having a moment, that's all."

At that moment, Tifa returned to the dining room. "I put Marlene and Denzel back to bed, although they'll probably be demanding answers in the morning."

Vincent stirred. "How's Hikari?"

Tifa's dark eyes were worried. "She's quiet…almost too quiet. I think she's gone into shock. She didn't make any kind of fuss when I put her in bed. I'm hoping she'll get some rest…but I don't know. This has got to be hard on her."

"Eight men…" Barret muttered thoughtfully. "Eight armed men efficiently dispatched in sixty seconds. How in the world did she do it?"

"It was professional, like an assassin…or a Turk," Cloud said, glancing at Vincent.

"No, not quite," the scarlet shadow replied.

Yuffie, who had forced herself to stop crying, looked up. "What do you mean?" she asked, wiping her face.

"Her fighting style was precise and efficient…almost too efficient. More reminiscent of a weapon than a human being." Vincent bowed his head slightly. "And she was fast. Even faster than me."

Yuffie's eyes widened and Tifa pursed her lips into a thin line. This was bad news. Someone who was faster than Vincent…you didn't see speed like that every day. Even with his body purged of the entity known as Chaos, Vincent was still faster than the average human.

"The only times I've seen someone move that fast," Cloud said softly, "were when I was fighting Kadaj and his gang. And Sephiroth."

"Could she be another remnant?" Red XIII asked, tail swishing in agitation.

"Doubtful," Cloud replied. "All the Jenova cells disappeared with the curing of the geo-stigma when Kadaj died. Hikari might possess similar qualities, but I don't think she's connected."

"But the point is, she's dangerous now," Barret rumbled. He glanced at Vincent and Cloud. "Isn't that what you're saying? That she's a killing machine?"

"She's just a frightened girl!" Tifa blurted out. "I don't think she meant to hurt anyone! Something happened…something that triggered this…this…self-defense mechanism. Maybe that was built into her when she was in the lab!"

Cloud hesitated, and then looked at Vincent. The scarlet-clad man stared back, his expression unreadable. Cloud shrugged and said, "It's your call, Vincent. You're closer to Hikari than any of us. What should we do about her?"

For a long moment, Vincent was silent. Not for the first time, the others wished they knew what the taciturn Turk was thinking. Finally, he spoke, voice level and expressionless. "I'll call Reeve and see what he can find out."

~ * ~

Reeve didn't have any substantial proof, but he did have a theory.

"Judging by the various tissue and blood samples we took when Hikari was here, it seems like there have been a lot of genetic alternations to her physical and mental make-up." The head of the WRO sounded tired and frustrated. "Her body is designed to withstand a great deal of stress, plus what we would call a normal adrenaline rush in humans produces super-human strength and lightning-fast reflexes not dissimilar to your own. In fact, many of the alterations made to Hikari match up with what was done to you and even members of SOLDIER."

Vincent leaned back against the support post of the porch and resisted the urge to hit something. "Can you tell if she's been infused with Chaos?"

"No. But there's no sign of any protomateria, or even mako, for that matter, just straight genetic manipulation, so there's a good chance that she isn't. Judging from the state of her brain and body, I don't think they grew her in a test tube, but used an actual person, probably a child, as their starting point."

"So, the genetic tampering stunted her mental growth?"

"That's the strange part. Physically, there is nothing abnormal with her mental functions or capabilities. The brain scans show that some parts of her brain are…locked somehow. My guess is that's where they embedded her defense programming."

Vincent frowned. "Programming?"

Reeve must have heard the doubt in the ex-Turk's voice. "Don't underestimate the power of suggestion. They could have brainwashed her, hypnotized her, used drugs or some other artificial means…there are dozens of ways to place certain behaviors with certain triggers within a person's subconscious. If they did take her when she was a child, then it would have been even easier. Children are pretty simple to mold and it's even harder for them to shake off the programming because it's been a part of them for so long. My guess is that Hikari has a built-in defense mechanism that triggers an attack response if she's threatened. Those thugs running in with weapons drawn and guns firing is probably what triggered it. When the threat was eliminated, the subconscious programming went dormant again and her regular consciousness regained control."

"But we don't know what else could be a trigger or if the state could become permanent."

Reeve sighed. "No, we don't. It's going to be a tough call, Vincent. Either you trust her and keep her away from any combat, or you kill her. Right now, there are no other options."

There was a moment of silence from the phone.

"So, Vincent, what are you going to do?"

~ * ~

Vincent quietly opened the door to the room Tifa and Hikari shared.

The strange young woman was sitting in the far corner of the room rather than in the bed, knees drawn up to her chest, arms wrapped around her legs. She looked up at the sound of the door opening, and then looked down, not meeting Vincent's eyes. She seemed small, fragile, and very frightened.

"Are you going to put me back in the tank?" Hikari asked softly.

Vincent started. "Why would we do that?"

She drew her knees even tighter to her chest, still speaking in a low voice. "Because Hikari broke promise. Because Hikari…Hikari _killed_."

Vincent crouched down beside the young woman and was further shocked. She was visibly trembling, and trying unsuccessfully to hide it. "Hikari," he said softly.

A pair of nervous, mismatched blue and red eyes flicked up to meet his.

"We are not putting you back in the tank, Hikari," said Vincent, hoping that his voice sounded gentle. "We are not leaving you."

Hope flickered on Hikari's face, but the fear still lurked. "But…I broke…I mean, I—"

"You did what you had to do," Vincent interrupted. "And Reeve says that it probably wasn't really you fighting. That there's…some kind of compulsion or programming inside you that tells you to fight when you are threatened."

"The others? Cloud and Tifa?"

"They agree with Reeve."

Hikari hesitated, and then, in an even more subdued tone, as if she was afraid to hear the answer, she asked, "And…what do _you_ think…Vincent?"

He extended a gloved hand to help her up. "I don't think you are capable of hurting anyone, Hikari."

It was like a flower blossoming. Light, life, and undiluted joy shone from her eyes and face, and once again Vincent was surprised by the sheer intensity of Hikari's expressions of emotion. She abruptly wrapped her arms around Vincent in a tight hug, burying her face in his chest. He tentatively returned the embrace, lightly stroking her hair.

"Thank you, Vincent," Hikari whispered. "Thank you. Hikari will be good. I broke promise not to hurt, but will try harder, much harder, to be good." She reluctantly stepped back, looking up at the ex-Turk. "Did…did friend Reeve find out how to take bad thing out?"

He shook his head. "We're pretty sure we know what it is, but we don't know how to make to go away yet."

Hikari bit her lip, looking thoughtful and serious. "Vincent…"

"Yes?"

She hesitated for a moment, then plunged ahead. "Vincent, if…if I can't keep promise, if…if I…if I hurt people again…then you must stop me. You must stop me so I not hurt anyone anymore."

Seeing her mismatched eyes so quiet and serious sent a slight tremor of worry down Vincent's spine. _Does she mean…?_

Hikari looked down at her hands and clenched them into fists. "I want to stay," she said wistfully, "want to stay in fun and grass and sunlight here always. But if I hurt friends, if I hurt Marlene or Denzel or Tifa…" She paused and took a deep breath. "If I hurt friends, then it better that Hikari not be."

Her scarlet and sapphire eyes met Vincent's crimson ones once more. "Promise this, Vincent. Promise that if I start hurting, if I start _killing_, then you stop. No matter what. You promise?"

A few short weeks ago this promise would have been easy. Now, those four words were the hardest he'd ever said…and he wasn't even sure why. "Yes, Hikari. I promise."

~ * ~


	9. Signs of a Struggle

Chapter 9

_**Signs of a Struggle**_

The only people who were virtually unaffected by Hikari's strange and abrupt bout of violence were Marlene and Denzel. Neither child was given the full details of the story, but they were warned not to mock fight around Hikari and to keep her near the house out of sight of weapons. At first, Hikari was shy and awkward around them, as if she was afraid that the slightest touch from her would injure them, but, gradually, Denzel's optimism and Marlene's charm allowed Hikari to relax a little. Neither child left her alone for a moment, and Marlene even took to bunking right next to Hikari at night. Their presence seemed to both reassure and cheer the strange young woman immensely.

As for the rest of the companions, they kept a close eye on Hikari. While Barret did not act hostile towards her, nor did he request her removal, he refused to leave the house if Marlene was with Hikari. Red XIII kept a fluid perimeter around Barret's house, keeping an eye out for any possible danger that might become a threat to Hikari. Yuffie stuck to her side like a burr and apologized for nearly two days straight until Hikari begged her to stop tormenting herself, reassuring the ninja that the carnage wasn't Yuffie's fault. Tifa, Cloud, and Vincent tried to make sure that at least one of them was either at or in the house at any given time. Hikari slowly regained her spirits with no signs of slipping back into her battle-mode and an air akin to relief began to settle over the household. Only Vincent, who contacted Reeve each day for updates, remained on edge.

The ex-Turk, after thinking over what Rufus Shinra had told him, asked Reeve to look into other companies that might have had the ability to manipulate human genes, or perhaps some Shinra experiments that had slipped under the radar by masquerading as a completely different project. He also suggested that Reeve conduct a search into all the girls, age twenty-five and younger, who were either part of experiments or disappeared mysteriously seventy years ago. So far they hadn't found any matches, but the amount of information that they had to go through was so staggering that Vincent tried to be patient and understanding. But the delay still rubbed his nerves raw.

About four days after the incident, Reeve called Yuffie back to the WRO to help with the investigation. Hikari was sad to see Yuffie go, but brightened when Tifa told her that Yuffie probably wouldn't be gone too long. "She'll solve this mystery before anyone else; you can count on that," the dark-haired girl said, and she was rewarded with Hikari's tentative smile.

The next day, Vincent was away from Barret's house when he got a call from Tifa.

"Vincent? It's Tifa. I've got to make a quick trip to the store. Barret's on the front porch and Red XIII is patrolling, but Cloud's out on a delivery. I know you like at least two of us at the house at all times, so I figured I'd give you a call."

"Thanks, Tifa. I'm on my way." Vincent flipped the phone closed and began retracing his way back to Barret's house, wrapped in his own thoughts.

As soon as he was within sight of Barret's house, Vincent knew something was wrong.

It was still. Too still. _Where's Barret? _Vincent thought, stepping back into the shadows and eyeing the house warily._ Tifa said he was on the front porch. In fact, where is Red XIII? I should have met him by now if he's on patrol…_ Every sense honed by years of training as a Turk was screaming danger signals. Vincent stayed in the shadows, using what natural cover there was in the alleys to creep closer.

His foot struck something. Looking down, the ex-Turk saw a massive red paw poking out from beneath a mound of hastily dumped trash bags.

It was Red XIII. Vincent pulled the bags off him and checked for a pulse in the great cat's neck. He found a small dart imbedded in the jugular. Red XIII was still alive, but the drugs in the dart had knocked him out.

Worry increasing by the second, Vincent moved as stealthily as he could, Cerberus at the ready. The door of the house was open, but there was still no sign of Barret. Tense as a coiled wire, the ex-Turk stepped through the door, scarlet eyes darting everywhere, searching for enemies and traps. The only thing that met his searching gaze was overturned chairs and Barret lying on the floor, a dart identical to the one that felled Red XIII in his neck.

Silently and methodically, Vincent searched the rest of the house. The place had been quickly and systematically torn apart. There was no sign of Hikari or the children.

Vincent called Cloud and Tifa, then went back outside and drug Red XIII into the house with Barret. By the time the red cat and the big man were inside, the roar of Cloud's bike announced his friends' arrival.

Tifa leapt off Cloud's bike almost before the wheels stopped spinning, eyes dark and afraid on her pale face. "Vincent! Did you find them?" When the ex-Turk shook his head, Tifa slumped, putting a hand to her face. "Oh God, this is all my fault. If I hadn't left the house before you got here—"

"You would have been knocked out just like Red XIII and Barret," Vincent said, interrupting her stream of self-accusation. "This job was a fast one."

"But not necessarily professional," Cloud said grimly, nodding at the destruction inside. True professionals would not have left such an obvious sign of their passing…and the darts would have probably been lethal as well.

Tifa looked stricken. "But…why? Why would someone do this? What were they looking for?"

Vincent's voice was grim. "Hikari. Someone is after Hikari."

~ * ~

With dusk beginning to draw its curtain across the sky and no sign of the missing children or Hikari, Vincent was feeling a growing anxiety gnaw at his insides. The ex-Turk, Cloud, and Tifa had started their search by combing the area surrounding the house, gradually spreading further into Edge as the hours progressed. Red XIII and Barret were still unconscious, and there was only so much three pairs of eyes could do. Vincent had a terrible feeling that if they didn't find Hikari or the children before sundown, then the chances of tracking them down at all would drop to near zero.

While Cloud and Tifa were searching in the more populated areas of Edge, Vincent had moved into the abandoned sections, a veritable maze of ramshackle buildings in various stages of disrepair and shades of monotone grey. It was also the perfect place to hide if someone was chasing you.

As the sky grew steadily darker, Vincent wound his silent way through the crumbling grey monoliths, senses on hyper-alert. Every sound, every shadow, was noted, analyzed, and then often dismissed as non-threatening. He dared not call out, just in case the kidnappers were nearby. He wanted to find the children and Hikari, but losing the element of surprise could be fatal.

_Hikari, where _are_ you?_ Vincent thought with a rising sense of desperation. He forced himself not to hurry, to keep things thorough and methodical but the lower the sun sank in the sky, the harder it was to stay calm and focused.

Suddenly, the ex-Turk froze. There was a sound, very faint…_Like someone moving,_ he thought. It had come from the derelict house on the right. Vincent listened for a moment, but the sound was not repeated. _Could be nothing…but then again, it might be them. _

He started to draw Cerberus, but halted the motion. _If it is Hikari, I don't want to send her into battle-mode. She's probably scared enough already... _For some reason, the thought of Hikari being afraid ignited a slow, deep anger inside him.

_They will regret this_, Vincent thought, sliding into the shadows as he approached the house.

It was a broken-down wreck, just like every other building he had passed, a shell of what it had been, home now only to rodents, cobwebs, dust, and faded memories. The door leaned open on rusty hinges, letting the fading light shine on the twisted remains of furniture and fallen beams well-gnawed by mice and other vermin. There was no sound, no movement, save for the faint swish of Vincent's cloak and the light click of his boots on the wooden floor.

Vincent carefully surveyed the room, scarlet eyes searching for any sign of disturbance or ambush…but there was nothing. No sign that anyone had been in the house for years. Nothing had been disturbed.

The ex-Turk turned to go, but something made him hesitate and look just once more, just in case…_There._

In the dust that had settled on the bottom step of a staircase leading to the next floor, was the faint imprint of a child's shoe. A slight smile of satisfaction slipped across Vincent's face as he carefully crouched down by the print. _Judging from the size, it's probably Marlene's, _he thought, looking up into the shadows of the rickety staircase. _So they were here…and might still be. _Eyeing the steps warily, Vincent started climbing, the creak of the wood and the click of his boots painfully loud to his straining ears.

Suddenly, a dark shape dropped down in front of him and, before he could grab Cerberus, Vincent found himself pinned to the wall with something sharp pressed against his throat.

"No move!" a voice hissed in the dark. "What name? Who sent?"

"Hikari?" Vincent could not keep the surprise and profound relief out of his voice.

The shape and the sharp object both withdrew. "Vincent?" Hikari's whisper sounded equally surprised and relieved. "That you? You here?"

"Yes, Hikari," Vincent said reassuringly. "Tifa, Cloud, and I have been looking for you. Are you alright? Where are Marlene and Denzel?"

A slender finger touched his lips. "Shhh," Hikari said, still whispering, and he felt her hand lightly tug on his cape. Puzzled, Vincent silently followed Hikari the rest of the way up the steps, entering what looked like an attic. The sharply slanted ceiling made it impossible for Vincent to stand upright except in the very center of the room. A single window, slanted like the ceiling, faced the street. Sitting in a corner behind some boxes on a moth-eaten rug were Marlene and Denzel.

The children looked up when Hikari and Vincent entered. Denzel looked relived and Marlene started to stand, but the little girl sat again when Hikari motioned sharply at her. Hikari tugged Vincent's hand, and crouched low, crab-walking towards the window. Vincent followed her lead. While Hikari peered cautiously out of the window, the ex-Turk went to the children.

"Are you alright?" he asked them in a low voice.

Denzel nodded. "But we've been here for hours and Hikari won't let us leave. Is Mr. Barret ok?"

Vincent inclined his head. "He and Red XIII got knocked out, but they're fine."

Marlene's brown eyes were worried. "Where's Tifa and Cloud?"

"They're out looking for you." Marlene relaxed.

The scarlet-clad man glanced over at Hikari who was still cautiously looking out the window, mismatched eyes wide and muscles tense. Her make-shift knife, a jagged piece of metal, was clutched by white-knuckled fingers. Despite the fact that Vincent had not seen the slightest hint of danger, the strange young woman was acting like their enemies stood in the middle of the street. Her face was smudged with dirt, and her hands and knees had collected some small scrapes. A shaft of fading sunlight illuminated the young woman's serious expression. It wasn't the deadly blankness that had accompanied her killing spree, but her fear was evident. He could almost see it rising off her like heat.

_Hold on…_ Vincent's eyes narrowed and then widened with shock. There was something around Hikari, a faint shimmer so slight he could barely see it. But it was there. _What in the world…?_

The shimmer abruptly disappeared and, a second later, Hikari relaxed. She turned towards Vincent and the children. "It all right," she said, relief coloring her voice as she set down the make-shift knife. "Safe." Hikari looked at Vincent. "We go home now?"

"Yes, please," said Vincent, and Hikari smiled slightly at the relief in the man's gruff tone.

~ * ~

_She is playing with the little ones in the yard. The day is nice and sunny, a good time to play. They are laughing. She is laughing. All is laughing. _

_She stumbles. The little ones look at her, ask is she is all right. It is not all right. Something is wrong. She bends down to listen. The earth groans. The earth shrieks. The Light whirls and whirls and cries of dark and death and danger. She hears them. She feels them. They are coming. The red cat cannot see them, cannot scent them in time. He is down and they are coming. The big man does not know, cannot know, cannot stop them._

_The little ones cannot hear. They only see her pale face and shaking hands. Their mouths move, but she can only hear the scream of the Light. She grabs the hands of the little ones and begins to run. They try to fight her, but she is too strong, too fast. _

_They hear a shout and a crash. It is the big man. Now the little ones can hear and they stop fighting and run with her. She picks up the smaller little one and runs faster. She can hear their footsteps seeping into the earth like ink. They know she is not at the house. They have not found her there. They will look for her. They will keep looking until they find her. She runs faster._

_She finds the shadow-places, the dead-houses. It is a maze. Throw off the scent, double back, dart and duck and hide. That is the only way. They must run and run and run and then hide, still and silent until they leave. The little ones are tired but they feel her fear and keep going. The ink-black footsteps come closer. They are coming._

_Moving silent, she finds a place, a place to hide. She takes the little ones in, so careful and quiet. Weapons, she needs weapons. She takes the metal. It is sharp. It will draw blood. She thinks of the bright-happy-music-place and shivers. She does not want to fight them. But she cannot let them take her. She does not know why. There is only fear. _

_She waits by the window. The Light is still screaming, swirling. They are coming. They are searching. They look and look, but they cannot find her. The ink-steps slowly leave, but still she stays, still and silent. The fear is too great, the Light is too loud, and they are still too close. _

_So she waits. She waits and waits until He comes. When He comes, she feels better. Safer. But still she waits. She waits until the Light is quiet, until the earth is calm, until there is no trace of the ink-black footsteps. Only then do she and the little ones go with Him. _

~ * ~

"So that's what happened," Cloud said thoughtfully after Hikari finished explaining what had happened. Marlene and Denzel had been sent to bed after reassuring themselves that the rest of their strange family was safe and well. The drugs that felled Barett and Red XIII had worn off by the time Vincent, Hikari, and the children returned, leaving them with monstrous headaches and a few bumps, but nothing serious.

"Still wish I'd gotten a good look at those bastards," Barett grumbled, wincing as Tifa placed another cold compress on his forehead.

"Can't be helped," Tifa said softly.

Hikari, curled up in one of the chairs, wrapped her arms around her knees and stared at the ground. "Sorry Hikari not know more. Not know who or where. Just know they bad. Bad mens."

"Eh, don't worry about it, kid," Barett said gruffly. "You got Marlene and Denzel out ok and protected them. Pretty brave of you."

The strange young woman looked up. "Brave? What is brave?"

"It is doing something that is hard, but right, even when you are very scared," Red XIII said, turning his great golden eyes towards her.

Hikari's mismatched eyes became thoughtful. "Brave…" she whispered, as if tasting the word.

Tifa looked at Vincent who had said nothing since he'd brought Hikari and the children back to the house. The ex-Turk had stayed in the shadows with folded arms, giving no sign of his thoughts or intentions. "So," Tifa asked, her quiet words like a bombshell in the silence, "what do we do now? We don't know anything about our enemies."

"Yes, we do." The dark tone in Vincent's voice drew all eyes in the room towards him.

"And that is…?" Cloud asked.

"They know about Hikari. They know where she is." The ex-Turk's scarlet eyes flashed with something akin to rage as his voice turned cold. "And we know they'll be back for her."

~ * ~


End file.
